A panel discussion at the Gilbane Conference 2008 about the state of open source content management. There are many open source content management solutions available today, reflecting a wide variety of capabilities and costs, and organizations of all types are more willing than ever to consider them in place of, or along side commercial CMSs. This session will look at some of the pros and cons of deploying open source content management systems in terms of licensing, costs, maintenance, and functionality to help you determine if they are an appropriate option for your organization. Moderator: John Eckman, Senior Director, Optaros Labs Speakers: Nate Aune, President and Founder, Jazkarta Michael Wechner, President, Wyona Elie Auvray, President of the Board, CEO, Jahia

1. Open Source
Content Management
Nate Aune, Jazkarta
Panel Discussion at Gilbane Conference
December 4, 2008
Boston, MA

2. Informed customers
• Downloadable and point-n-click installers
• Many published books
• Plethora of online documentation
• Mailing lists and IRC to ask pre-RFP questions

3. Easy to install
• Cross-platform installers
• Point-n-click install
• No dependencies

4. Books and online docs
plone.org/documentation

5. Greater adoption of OSS
• More mature, more stable, better supported
• The 'political and cultural' shift
• often much cheaper
• it enables doing things systematically

6. Participation is key
• code that isn't contributed gets bitrot
• contributed code builds momentum
• attendance at OSS conferences and sprints
• being active in IRC and mailing lists

7. Socialized innovation
• OSS developers like to quot;scratch an itchquot;
• Motivated by recognition = meritocracy
• quot;Coolnessquot; factor > market demands
• Individuals innovate without the constraints
of company budgets or product managers

8. Plone innovations
• supports 35+ languages incl. right-to-left
• link integrity checker
• drag-n-drop adding of content
• built-in wiki

9. Plone is standards compliant
• Section 508 / WAI-AA
• XHTML/CSS
• pervasive RSS feed support
• microformats
• iCal / vCal
• OpenID

10. OSS is cost effective
• Perception that OSS is free needs to die
• Do not incur costly licensing fees
• Still must pay for consulting, support, hosting

11. Enterprise CMS Cost Comparison
Custom Theme, Content
Licenses Server License +
100 Client Licenses
Annual
License Fees
No License Fees
7 November 2008 21

12. Don't underestimate Community

13. Questions?
natea (at) jazkarta (dot) com
www.jazkarta.com

14. More info about Plone
• plone.org (official site of Plone)
• plone.net (vendors, case studies)
• plonebook.info (free eBook)
• plone.tv (screencasts, podcasts)