First off, massive disclaimer/conflict of interest: my company makes a CMS
(whose name I won't mention to lessen the conflict).
I am a fan of open source systems, and use them myself on a number of
personal websites. They're quick and do-the-job for a semi-technical person
like myself who can tweak them to do what I need to run a blog or simple
site.
However, to say that they are "almost always going to be way better and more
flexible and extensible than any proprietary system" is misleading.
In the last few months, I've installed and used the most recent version of
nearly every major open source PHP CMS I could find: Drupal, Joomla,
Wordpress MU, etc. (Our CMS is PHP, though commercial open source, so this
was for competitive research).
Each has pros and cons (I'd go as far to say that most of these are NOT
flexible and extensible, with the exception of Drupal), both relative to
one-another and to commercial/commercial-open-source offerings. I wouldn't
say that ANY of them were more flexible or extensible than our offering, or
that of a number of our commercial competitors. Sure, some have more
modules, but this comes with its own drawbacks (Want an events calendar?
Hey, why not look through 35 of them to see if any of them work!).
This could turn into a heated debate, which I imagine might be more opinion
based than evidence based (in reality, how many of us have actually used all
the open source and commercial offerings out there?), so think I'll stop
now... But just wanted to put a word in for the other side!
Dan
PS I do *really* like Wordpress (for blogs) though. It rocks.
On 11/11/2009 13:54, "Tom Jenkins" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
>> Michael Guthrie
>> Sent: 11 November 2009 12:52
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: CMS recommendations
>>
>> Hi Karen
>>
>> I would say that using an Open Source solution like Joomla or Drupal
> is
>> most advantageous, and doesn't lock you in to inflexible, proprietary
>> and unnecessarily expensive licenses from vendors.
>
> Just wanted to say - absolutely second this. One of the top open source
> system like Drupal or Joomla is almsot always going to be way better and
> more flexible and extensible than any proprietary system, mainly because
> of the huge critical mass the contributing communities for these open
> source systems tend to gather.
----------------------------------------
Dan Zambonini
Box UK
Internet Development and Consultancy
t: +44 (0)29 2022 8822
f: +44 (0)29 2022 8820
e: [log in to unmask]
w: http://www.boxuk.com
----------------------------------------
Eight years in the making and more investment in usability than any other
Content Management System. Visit http://www.amaxus.com and find out why
hundreds of websites are powered by Amaxus.
Registered Office Address: 6a Poland Street, London, W1F 8PT. Registered in
England and Wales No. 3606919.
Important Information: This message may contain confidential, proprietary or
privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify
the sender immediately and delete the message from your system. You should
not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other
person.
****************************************************************
For mcg information visit the mcg website at
http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk
To manage your subscription to this email list visit
http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk/email.shtml
****************************************************************
|