In this episode of the Modernize or Die Podcast, hosts Daniel Garcia and Grant Copley discuss the latest updates from Ortus Solutions, including the release of ColdBox 8 and BoxLang 1.7. They explore new features, real-time communication with SocketBox, and the implications of the recent Lucee 7 release.

The BoxLang team is thrilled to announce the release of BoxLang 1.7.0, a landmark update that brings powerful new capabilities for modern web development, distributed systems, and AI-powered applications. This release introduces Server-Sent Events (SSE) for real-time streaming, a JDBC Cache Store for distributed caching, AST generation tools for code analysis, bytecode compatibility versioning, and significant performance improvements across the runtime.

October 2025 was a wild ride at Ortus. We released ColdBox 8.0.0, The Ocho, a version that redefines CFML architecture from REST APIs to full-stack microservices. At the same time, BoxLang evolved with bx-ldap, bringing connection pooling and event-driven authentication for enterprise environments, along with BX-Charts, a new way to transform raw data into stunning visuals without relying on external libraries.

Beyond the code, we faced real-world lessons in modernizat...

We're thrilled to announce the release of bx-compat-ui, a comprehensive UI compatibility module that makes migrating your Adobe ColdFusion and Lucee applications to BoxLang seamless and straightforward. If you've been hesitant about moving to BoxLang because of your existing UI components, this module is your answer.

We're thrilled to announce the release of bx-rss, a comprehensive RSS and Atom feed module that brings powerful syndication capabilities to BoxLang! Whether you're building a content aggregator, publishing a podcast, or exposing your application's data as feeds, bx-rss makes it incredibly simple.

We're thrilled to announce the release of the BoxLang Redis Module (bx-redis) - a powerful addition to BoxLang that brings enterprise-grade Redis functionality directly into your applications. Whether you're building distributed systems, implementing real-time messaging, or need high-performance caching, this module has you covered.

We're thrilled to announce the release of bx-csv, a powerful premium module that brings enterprise-grade CSV processing capabilities to BoxLang+ subscribers! Built on Apache Commons CSV, this module provides both traditional functions and a modern, fluent API that makes working with CSV files a breeze.

We're thrilled to announce the release of the BoxLang Spreadsheet Module (bx-spreadsheet), a comprehensive solution for creating, reading, and manipulating Excel spreadsheets with style and simplicity. Whether you're building data export features, generating reports, or migrating from legacy CFML applications, this module delivers the power you need with the modern BoxLang elegance you expect.

Every ColdFusion modernization project tells a story — and not all of them start well.

Some begin in crisis: an app goes down, a compliance audit fails, or a key developer leaves.

Others start simply because someone finally asks, “Why are we still on ColdFusion 11?”

After two decades helping organizations modernize their ColdFusion and CFML systems, we’ve seen it all — the good, the painful, and the transformative.

Here’s what we’ve learned from the trench...