Cmsexpo News & Articles

If you're in the process of deciding which open source CMS-related conference to attend this year, here's the down-low on what's coming for CMS Expo (news, site) 2010, from May 3 - 5 in Chicago.

GPL as a business model was the subject of Jeff Eaton of Lullabot's session at the CMS Expo.

He began the session by explaining the difference between free as in speech and free as in beer.

Jeff then went on to outline what it means to release software under the GPL license including the right to get the source code and the right to customize and distribute the software.

There were several questions from the audience and it was clear that the question of what will come of MySQL after the acquisition of Sun by Oracle was a common concern.

Take away points included:

• GPL breeds GPL
• If you distribute, others can distribute
• Your code may be a product but it may also be a tool you use to deliver a product
• Sell your brain, the understanding of people and problems is your most valuable asset

Jeff went on to outline various ways to make money in the GPL world.

[Editor's Note: See our detailed article Open Source: The GPL, Your CMS Project and You]

Wilco Jansen, the Joomla! (news, site) Development Coordinator and an Open Source Matters board member talked about the importance of engaging the community in his keynote at the CMS Expo today.

While not everyone can commit code, it is still possible to make significant contributions to the project in other more accessible ways like answering questions on the forums.

In addition to engaging the community, the GPL license plays a key role in advancing the growth of the project. There are currently more than 4000 registered extensions available for download under the GPL license.

There is no one person making key decisions, rather leadership is provided through working groups.

For a large group of volunteers, Wilco says that it is quite well organized and "it is a business, not a science project."

[Editor's Note: See our detailed article Open Source: The GPL, Your CMS Project and You]

Matt Asay, VP of Business Development for Alfresco (news, site) opened the CMSExpo with the message that open source is now mainstream and being embraced by the enterprise.

It is the right message at the right time. Open source companies like Alfresco are thriving in an otherwise difficult time.

Proprietary vendors are trying to survive through acquisition resulting in less choice. They use closed standards making it difficult to get your content out of their systems. Set your content free by using open source software.

Here are just a few other tidbits that Asay had to say about open source:

• Alfresco is considered enterprise but Drupal and Joomla! are also being embraced by the enterprise
• Cost gets you in the door but surveys show that 87% of companies actually show cost savings after implementing open source
• Open source de-risks software acquisition -- you can try it for free before buying it
• Most software projects fail: If you buy open source and it fails, you have spent much less money in the process -- it is a subscription vs a large up-front charge
• Forrester survey: 100% will be using or plan to use open source by 2010, 56% will be using or plan to use a content management system
• Why use open source:  65% said it sparked innovation, 81% for better quality software, 67% lower cost

And what are the 2009 trends for Enterprise Content Management?

1. Governance, retention, compliance
2. Freedom of choice
3. Easier to use, customize and deploy (Drupal and Joomla! are leaders here)
4. More and better software for the price

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