I forgot who sent the tweet on Twitter but I was pointed to some very interesting research (2005) posted at the Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge site.
Microsoft vs. Open Source: Who Will Win?
Using formal economic modelling, professors Pankaj Ghemawat and Ramon Casadesus-Masanell consider the competitive dynamics of the software wars between Microsoft and open source.
Geeklog, an open source blogging application, just went into its first beta. This release incorporates some of the work done in projects implemented during the 2008 Google Summer of Code.
New features and improvement you can expect in Geeklog 1.6.0 Beta 1 include:
I originally thought the article from Silicon.com, "Naked CIO: Open source ain't cheap" was written by a troll. Most IT authors realize that the quickest way to get a rise out of readers is to say something negative about one of two topics, Apple computers or open source. This author decided to write about the latter. Reluctantly, I have to agree with the author that for most enterprises running while open source is no more expensive than proprietary solutions it also certainly is not compellingly cheaper.
A few sources of costs for the enterprise running open source given by the author include:
I've never agreed and disagreed so much with one article as this one from The Sydney Morning Herald, Drive your own website.
I agree...
I hate being held to ransom. And I'm sure you do, too. But that's the scenario you're creating when you hand over your website to a web designer or developer and relinquish control over when and how you can change your content...
...That's why I think it's vital for small-business owners to use their own content management systems (CMS). My recommendation is to initially use a designer to create the overall look but after that you at least want to be able to change the text on your website whenever you want.
I disagree...
If you are planning to use a free CMS, such as Wordpress, Drupal or Joomla, expect a steep learning curve and a lot of time poring through forums and blogs trying to figure out how to insert that picture just the way you want.
On the other hand, monthly subscription-based models can offer more flexibility. While you might baulk at being tied to a monthly subscription, the benefit is this is usually accompanied by technical support - so you can call or email for help
The fact of the matter is whether you're going to be using a CMS that is propriety, open source, or subscription based...there is always a learning curve involved. The advice I often give to those looking for a CMS is to look at which CMS meet the requirements then worry about the licensing along with the how/where the site will be hosted. The fact is that if the CMS doesn't meet your requirements...no subscription-based model for that CMS is going to meet your needs. Also, if you think Wordpress has a steep learning curve...you likely haven't done your homework on Web content management systems. Just my opinion...
The XOOPS Project, one of world’s leading Open Source CMS (Content Management System), is experiencing something that probably none of the Open Source CMS projects have ever experienced: reunification with its forks.
It's typical in the Open Source environment that developers work on a project, but then have different ideas, and leave the project to create their own forks. Most of the time they never come back.
So it's a sign of a visionary leadership of the current XOOPS team that they reached out and were able to attract back three of its recent and most innovative forks:
• Simple-XOOPS under Dirk Herrmann from Germany
osCommerce announced that their osCommerce Online Merchant v3.0 Alpha 5 will be made available on March 11th. They've also retooled the schedule for additional releases of this well known shopping cart.
osCommerce Online Merchant v3.0 Alpha 5 was scheduled for release by the end of February and has been postponed to ensure the quality of the release. It will now be released on Wednesday the 11th of March. This release also brings in a new roadmap and release strategy for the v3.x series.
This is a really cool story on how local governments can improve their presence on the Internet and save money using open source software. The City of Albert Lea needed to improve their website but the small Minnesota city was facing project costs of $10,000 to $30,000. In walks Wordpress being utilized as a full content management system. As reported by the Albert Lea Tribune:
Some cities pay a consultant $10,000, $20,000, even $50,000 for a Web-based content-management site that looks professional and is consistent through and through. Fairbault is one instance.
Albert Lea, however, paid $720 to local resident Jeshua Erickson last December, she said. Kauffmann was in charge of the site’s revision, and last October she put together a committee of city
officials to advise her.She said the committee decided to shoot for a site using a content management system — or CMS — but it was outside of her Internet skills. The city began seeking estimates from Web design companies. When the estimates returned, they realized the city couldn’t afford it.
“We just didn’t feel we could justify spending $20,000-plus on a Web site,” Kauffmann said. “I happened to run into Jeshua Erickson on the Pelican Breeze one day, and we talked about Web sites and how he was developing them using WordPress.”
I'll have to say that even though Wordpress is open source and "free", this city got a steal with getting a website for under $1000. While Albert Lea is a small city, developing government sites can become big projects with lots of complications. Either the city was kind to the developer and his hours or he felt some civil duty to give the city's taxpayers a good deal. An example of this developer doing such a good job, Albert Lea's website is currently running Wordpress 2.7 which is the latest available version of Wordpress. Very well done Mr. Erickson.
Not long ago, I expressed doubts whether osCommerce has a future. While osCommerce is widely used by thousands of sites, and incidentally the only shopping cart I've ever put into production, its development cycle has been painfully slow for many of its open source contributors and users. As I've said before, when the 3.0 version of osCommerce is released I find it unlikely that the new osCommerce will have many of the Web 2.0 features that the new breed of
shopping carts currently have now. I have personal doubts that osCommerce's future is as bright as its past has been.
Every year, there are some key information technology people that make mostly sound and trustworthy predictions for the coming year. I'll be updating this page through the week with links to these visions of what we may expect in 2009. My own thoughts and vision for 2009 and CMS Report will come later in another post (I am not worthy to place my own comments here).
Content Management and Social Publishing Predictions
Dries Buytaert (Drupal Project Lead) - Drupal, Acquia, and Mollom
The year 2008 was another great year for CMS Report. In 2008, we posted close to 500 articles to the front page. Below are the ten most read articles that were posted for the year.
Similar to last year, three of the top stories have little to do with content management systems. It seems that there is more interest in gadgets than content management systems! Hopefully CMS Report can help change that.