Hi,
That's a little spooky. I was just sitting here playing with the
MoveableType weblog system, thinking to myself, "why are we running a
high cost CMS system at work? this thing does everything."
MoveableType is a blog system, and really that is its heart, but it is
so flexible that About.com uses it for thier whole CMS system, as
others do as well. I'm quickly finding out why. MoveableType can be
found at :
http://www.movabletype.org/
Commercial users of Movable Type as defined by the Limited Commercial
Use License are required to pay a License Fee of $150. For personal or
nonprofit, it is free.
Some websites that will show you what can be done with this system are
on this page.
http://www.movabletype.org/resources.shtml
Well.. enough of that one.. let's look at some others.
We'll start with open source systems. Most OpenSource systems are
stable, and easy to manage. They normally are free for personal and
nonprofit, but can charge for commercial use. I'll let you know if
they have such a fee for each one we take a look at.
The first one up is CMS, (an original title eh?) This system is a
simple and easy to use document control system.
http://cms.sourceforge.net/
They don't mention any fees or commercial charges on that page, and
looking around I couldn't find any mention of these types of fees. The
system is based on Perl for scripting, and allows a group of persons
to share documents via a web interface. Documents can be checked-in,
checked-out, reserved, etc.
They have a demo running that you can play with at:
http://cms.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/cms-0.02/index.cgi
Midgard CMS is next
home page : http://www.midgard-project.org/
Licensing : Midgard is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public License as
published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the
License, or (at your option) any later version.
Midgard is a foundation CMS system, which allows developers to build
on a stable, known system. And several CMS systems have been built on
top of it. A page with a list of these systems can be seen here:
http://www.midgard-project.org/midhoo/Midgard%20applications.html
Midgard has a base system they call Repligard, which allows for
documents to be approved by a leveled login before it is moved to the
live area of the site.
The Aegir CMS system is one of those build on top of the Midgard
system
http://www.aegir-cms.org/Documentation/
AIOCP Total CMS System
home page : http://www.aegir-cms.org/Documentation/
demo page : http://www.tecnick.com/public/code/cp_dpage.php?aiocp_dp=aiocp_showcase
This is a very flashy CMS System which spends more time on the
creation of the website, than on document control. Also it appears not
to lend itself well to customization.
RedHat Content Management System
home page: http://www.redhat.com/software/rhea/cms/
This system comes as part of the RedHat Enterprise System, cost $1499
+ and use to be the Ars Digita Community System. Very stable and full
of options and ability. It is OpenSource, so customization is
available.
OpenCMS
http://www.opencms.org/opencms/en/
A write up on these last two can be found at :
ZDNet Open-Source CMS: On the rise
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2897730,00.html
Those are the major players in the OpenSource area. Let's move on to
the Commercial areas
I'm guessing you are looking for full CMS systems, and not just a
content driven site such as
http://www.siteworkspro.com/
Siteworks gives you.
Documentum
http://www.documentum.com/products/content-management_products.html
They won't tell you on the website how much it costs, which means
between 30-50k
Atomz
List Price: Varies based on Web site; average starting price $50,000
Requirements: Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator versions 4.0 and
later
Company Info: Atomz Corp. 1111 Bayhill Drive, Suite 285 San Bruno, CA
94066 USA Telephone: (650) 244-1400 Fax: (650) 244-1401 Company URL:
http://www.atomz.com/
Simple to use, and they host the service.
Pro's Con's and some Advice.
First off, one of the things that pushes me to recommend going Open
Source first is that if you are asking this question you don't have
much experience with a CMS system. Since this is the case, and all
large CMS systems store the content in data tables and can be
transferred, I would start out with one, just to find out what it is
you like and don't like about them. They are great for starting
fields. If you decide later that one of the higher priced (50k) CMS
systems are more to your liking, at least you "know" this, instead of
being "sold" this.
CMS systems come in all different flavors. The ones I have listed for
you here are more general, but there are systems like EduTools which
are based on a Education format, class schedules, homework assignments
and the like. So knowing what you are going to use it for can be a
determining factor as well.
I would be wary of any system that will not let you host your own
system. These systems tend to cost a great deal more when you want to
change things down the road. Customization normally must be done
in-house at premium prices, or a large fee must be paid to the service
to allow your own programmers in there to change things. It always
sounds like a good deal to have a system that you just pay for and it
runs and they take care of the system administration and hosting, but
I can't tell you how many times my phone has rung with pleas to get
away from such services.
The ability to customize in CMS system is always a factor. It may not
be now, but once it is up and running, you will want to change
something. It always happens. It's like buying a house. The house is
great, just what you want until you move in, and then the patio is too
open and the closet needs more space.
If you have specific questions you would like addressed along these
lines, please use the Clarification Button and I'll answer them as
soon as possible.
Thanks,
webadept-ga |
