How to measure the dynamism of a community of CMS?

[melodanslevase]

Hello,

I have just discovered the principle of CMS. I find the brilliant tool, we can make a Web site, in any simplicity. But what I especially discovered, it is the community which there is all around.

As a result, I am going to make my report of the end of studies on communities CMS and their dynamism, thus I in appeal to your knowledge of the world of CMS:

How and why chose you CMSMS?
- Had you criteria predefined on CMS or on the community?
- Was it the first one whom you used and if not, why to have changed?
- What are according to you the advantages of CMSMS and it community with regard to the other CMS?
- The fact whether he is Open source, don't worry you  when in its future? Because the core team can stop developing at any time

In brief, just as much of questions who could direct me a little. All the answers and the opinions are welcome. I thank you in advance and I apologize for my bad English.
Have a nice day
Mélodie

[cyberman]

- The fact whether he is Open source, don't worry you  when in its future? Because the core team can stop developing at any time

Sorry, my english is also bad too  ...

It makes NO difference if core team of an open source software or a big player like Microsoft stops his support for some products.

IMHO it's better to use open source cause the source is open  . You can take source and go to another developers and ask if they would moddify it for your needs. With paying software that's not possible cause there are very big copright problems.

[Pierre M.]

Bonjour Mélodie, Hallo Cyberman,

I agree with Cyberman. The core teams of Lotus Improv, Lotus 123, Lotus AmiPro, Lotus SmartSuite have stopped developping their products. Sun has opensourced StarOffice which has become OpenOffice. Microsoft had stopped developing IE for years, so IEv6 has made the way for Firefox and others. Abiword and Gnumeric are wealthy quality projects. CMSms too. FOSS is not about business planning, it is about the freedom to join at any time and participate improving the products. This is so strong that it can break monopolies.

BTW I have a question for your survey : is your current CMS simpler than CMSms ?

PM

[myshko]

Hi Mélodie,

Hope my answers help in some way.

I've recently come from a well established new media company in the uk (www.think.eu) who developed their own .asp / .net (closed source) applications, and gone into business for myself working with .php / mysql scripts, most of which are open source.

I'm very new to CMSMS (3 weeks, 2 sites being developed with it) but there were very specific reasons for choosing it.

How and why chose you CMSMS?
Q: Had you criteria predefined on CMS or on the community?

A: Both! I needed specific things from the CMS (simplicity, flexibility, SEO friendly, able to use my own XHTML / CSS always) and also a community which will help and support you along the way.

Q: Was it the first one whom you used and if not, why to have changed?

A: The last month I've tried literally hundreds of different open source, php scripts for different things (ecommerce, blogs, community portals...) and CMSMS is just unbelievably good as a simple CMS. Mambo and Joomla are very powerful portals but are so heavy and complicated, I would spend the majority of my time removing functionality. CMSMS starts as a base and allows me to build on top what I want.

Q: What are according to you the advantages of CMSMS and it community with regard to the other CMS?

A: Advantages of CMSMS: simplicity, flexibility (especially with XHTML / CSS templates) and control. I can make it fit around anything I want or need.
    Advantages of community: Although I've only been looking at the forum for a few weeks, everyone is here for you and always answer quickly, and openly. You get a real feeling people are enjoying working together on the project. A lot of other communities I've been on make you feel like an annoyance or noob.

Q: The fact whether he is Open source, don't worry you when in its future?

A: Like the guys said above, it's open source so you could always create some continuation yourself. Plus CMSMS works so well even now, I doubt the sites I'm using it for would need updating. Besides, I like the fact that I can openly contribute to something and give back to the community, like now 

Anyway, that's my two pence worth. Sorry if it's a bit long. Hope it helps.

Good luck to ya and regards,

Mikey

[mahjong]

- Had you criteria predefined on CMS or on the community?

Mainly the CMS functionalities at the time I chose to use CMSMS for one of my clients. I was never worried about the strength and longevity of the support community.

- Was it the first one whom you used and if not, why to have changed?

No, I used and still use several CMS. It depends on the project, on the client's needs. Sometimes I even start from scratch and write Web application tailored to special needs.

- What are according to you the advantages of CMSMS and it community with regard to the other CMS?

Most CMS constraint the look and feel of the public interface. They are not as expandable as CMSMS. With CMSMS I can use, in background, high level programming while the users have a very simple front-end to interact with. Everything imaginable can be done with CMSMS. The only limit is the programmer's skill...  and the clients budget.

On the other side, prefixed CMS required less work if you don't really care for the finished product. You can create a site faster, but never as efficient as CMSMS. They all look the same and are loaded with useless functionalities.

The only thing CMSMS doesn't have yet is a well-thought (secure) integrated (not requiring major work) forum system.

- The fact whether he is Open source, don't worry you when in its future? Because the core team can stop developing at any time

Exactly the opposite. Open source is a lot resilient than commercial software. As soon as a company stops making profit with one product, it drops support. I can always count on a solid base of users to continue development and/or support of open source products.

[melodanslevase]

Thanks to all for these answers, that is going to serve me. 
To answer the question of PM, I have to try joomla, and the advantage it is that there is a French community.
If you have the other remarks, do not hesitate.
I shall give you the link of the report when I would have finished him.
Bye
Mélodie

[mahjong]

the advantage it is that there is a French community.

You asked in English, so we answered in English. But... ici aussi, il y a une communauté francophone, serviable et active. Jeter un oeil à la portion française du forum...

[melodanslevase]

Thank you for this link. I didn't find this communauty. I'll post the same poll 
Bye

[Pierre M.]

Je crois même que les francophones (et les germanophones) sont parmi les non anglophones les plus réactifs...
But it is a good thing you have asked in English so you can get several international answers.
PM