Jan
25
Written by:
profitimo
Friday, January 25, 2008
Joomla is a content management system (CMS) like none other I've researched to date. There are a dozen or so CMS competitors. Some are commercial and charge for their software. Several others, like Joomla, are open source and available without cost.
Any perceivable differences are limited to a few specific traits. For some there is the cost factor which could deter many potential purchasers from buying the commercial products. While there are a few open source products that have low costs the commercial software products tend to be much higher.
Many proponents of the commercial CMS software suggest the product is a better choice once installed, primarily because of the post sale support such as training and stability associated with security experiences with the software.
Since most of the open source CMS developers are largely volunteers the issue could appear to be a potentially formidable challenge. This is where Joomla, for one, works very hard to capitalize on several factors that are currently feeding the product's success.
An example of Joomla's out-of-the-box approach to creating a trouble free product is a recently held "Doc Camp." This international get-together was a follow-up to a weekend Joomla "bug squashing event." The company promoted the events with the goal of increasing the viability and functionality of the product while focusing on cleaning us any inconsistencies in its operational functions.
Reports indicate literally thousands of volunteer developers were on the project. Industry observers state Joomla has a strong commitment to timely upgrades and new releases. Credit is given to the marshalling of volunteers and their exuberant, as well as technologically strong support.
Comparisons tend to favor open source CMS options due to several features:
* Consumer friendly free downloads
* Strong documentation.
* Reliable training.
* Ongoing support and development
The Players
In addition to Joomla other open source CMS's are Mambo, Drupal, PHPNuke, Post Nuke, Plone, TYPO3, e107, Open CMS, MODx CMS, WordPress, XOOPS and Zope.
The commercial entrants in the field are Vignette, Alfresco, RedDot CMS, Interwoven Teamsite, Tridion, Microsoft CMS, Oracle portal, Immediacy CMS, GOSS iCM, Hot Banana and Fatwire Content Server.
Can Joomla Hold On To The Top Spot?
Joomla tends to meet the strictest parameters expected of companies that would like to be considered leaders in the field. The competing team at Mambo also renders a build quality and application strength that keep them squarely in Joomla's sights.
The remainder of the group provide add-on features like, job posting, guest books, and chat to name a few of the most popular features.
Once thing all open source CMS have in common is they are distributed under GNU GPL and tend to work well with most operating environments. Joomla gets the higher marks mainly because of the strengths of its largely volunteer developer family.
When looking more closely through the list of commercial CMS contenders we find the licensing differs greatly. Additionally databases and related servers in addition to programming languages are similar but created specific differences depending on the applications.
Overall, when comparing features like, building applications, operability, performance and user friendliness, Joomla out ranks 99.9% of all comers in every category. It must be hard to be humble when you're that good and Joomla's legion of fans is expanding more rapidly at every download.
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Related Links:
Have Complete Control over your Website's content with CMS! - Thumbshots Articles
Joomla! Wins 'Best CMS Award' Again! - A report
Is Joomla Adsense best for your site?
How to use Open Source CMS to control your website?
How CMS is related to Web Design? - Blogs Thumbshots
Get the Best of Jhoomla - Download templates of your choice
Why do you need CMS in your Site?
Why Joomla is best compared to other CMS?
Right time to Use CMS in your site - Blogs Thumbshots
Recommended Books:
Content Management Systems (Tools of the Trade) - by Dave Addey , James Ellis , Phil Suh , David Thiemecke
Real World ASP.NET: Building a Content Management System - by Stephen R.G. Fraser
Author: Alex Rich
Alex Rich PhD, has been a business coach for 15 years specializing in Internet start-ups. A recent client grew his revenue from scratch to $7 million monthly in less than 9 months. Dr. Rich also writes business articles but freely admits his passion is coaching Internet start-up businesses.
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