Hi,
Our product is 'commercial open source', therefore you'd be fine with all of
your questions (i.e. you can hack away to your hearts content, you get all
the source code, you can distribute any changes you make to other customers,
you can employ any supplier to work on it). We've even built specific
interfaces into the system to make it easier to share modules.
The only *real* difference is you pay a fee up-front to get the code, and
you can't re-sell/distribute the code to other people who haven't paid for
it (we have a full-time team of 9 expert developers working on it every
single day, who we need to pay). In my opinion, that's a small price for the
increased usability (we spent over 2 man-years on the user experience
design) and, arguably, a better architecture and delivery model than any
open source system I've used.
It sounds like a sales pitch, I apologise; that's not why I wanted to get
involved in this conversation.
I find it ridiculous, actually, that we're still having the 'open source vs
paid' argument in 2010, about forty years after it surfaced. I love open
source apps in some contexts; in others, I prefer paid software. I would
never use Windows (which has more software available) or Linux (which gives
me the source code) over my beloved Mac, because my time and enjoyment is
more valuable (to me) than the price difference, or the lock-in.
And on that note, I give up. Each to their own.
Dan
PS Sea Your History - pretty cool.
On 11/11/2009 15:28, "Hayden Young" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dan, if I purchase your product and a few months later we have a falling
> out, who do I go to for continued support of my system? What about if I want
> to find a cheaper supplier?
>
> What about if I find that the system almost does what I want it to do but I
> need to make some hacks to the core? What about if I want to distribute
> those hacks to a number of museums that are using the same system? What
> about if I fix some bugs and want to distribute those fixes to other users?
>
> Now, which system do you think is more flexible? The free and open source
> one, or your proprietary one?
>
> If you want systems that are scalable and flexible your only option should
> be free and open source. Proprietary products are showing their shortcomings
> time and again when it comes to performance, security and reliability.
>
> As for evidence, check out the sea your history project
> http://www.seayourhistory.org.uk. Hosts 50,000+ multimedia assets, images,
> sound, video, text and all on Joomla!. Hardly a simple, out-of-the-box web
> site.
>
> Cheers
>
>
> Hayden
>
> On Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:20:35 +0000, Dan Zambonini <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> 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
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>>
>> ****************************************************************
>> For mcg information visit the mcg website at
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>
> ****************************************************************
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----------------------------------------
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
****************************************************************
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