Sep 26, 2006
Last week, I attended eZ publish developer training and got certified as an eZ publish developer:
The class was largely composed of experienced eZ developers so we were able to breeze through the content management and eZ publish basics and fill the holes in our self taught knowledge (small inside joke, the instructor's name is Kristian Hole). I will be updating the eZ publish review from the CM Problems white paper with my new knowledge and post it here as a derivative work.
But for now, a couple initial observations:
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eZ is making a big push into the North American market. They set up an office in Vancouver and staffed it with some pretty senior people. Their new sales manager, David Dempsey is tireless in his efforts to reach out to systems integration partners.
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In the next couple of releases, there is going to be more convergence between eZ publish and eZ components. When eZ publish is PHP 5 compatible, eZ publish will use eZ components for templating and other services. This will have several benefits. Among them: there will be more developers familiar with this architecture and there will be more people testing these core components.
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eZ publish is being used by some pretty high traffic websites. Some of the students in the class had impressive high performance, high availability eZ deployments. Still, running a development environment on the Fedora Core workstations provided was pretty slow.
Send me an email if you want some eZ publish help before I forget all this stuff!
Sep 21, 2006
Stefane Fermigier from Nuxeo just announced on the CPS user list that Nuxeo is switching over from Python/Zope to Java technologies. Here is the content of the email:
Hi all,
here is an announcement that will come as a surprise: Nuxeo is switching to Java technologies for its upcoming product line.
As you know (http://blogs.nuxeo.com/sections/blogs/eric_barroca/2006_04_26_open-source-ecm-cps-platform-4-yellowcake-teaser), we have started 6 months ago to include Java technologies into CPS. This solution is satisfactory for our current needs, but we need to think about the future. We had started to study several technological options for CPS' future, including comparing the progressive migration to Zope 3 (the path we had chosen initially) with a 100% pure Java option.
Our final analysis is that switching to Java, if you take into account the respective maturities of the Java EE open source and Zope 3 platforms, will be easier and provide more value than a switch to Zope 3.
We also think that with Java 5, modern IDEs like Eclipse, and with all the open source ecosystem that has appeared on Java since the last 5 years, it is much more enjoyable to develop in Java than it used to be 5 years ago when we started.
We have discussed this choice with some of our partners and customers, and they all support us in this decision. Jean-Marc Orliaguet has also agreed with this strategy, has started porting CPSSkins to Java, and will join us next week in Paris for a sprint on the Web part of the project.
The next version of CPS will be called "Nuxeo 5". You will find there all the key features of CPS, a modern architecture based on extensible components and services, and scalability and integration options that were not possible with a "pure Python" architecture.
Please check the following FAQ:
http://www.nuxeo.org/about/java-switch
Here is the roadmap for the project:
http://www.nuxeo.org/about/roadmap
More information:
- The new webste: http://www.nuxeo.org/
- The code base: http://svn.nuxeo.org/trac/nuxeo
- The developers mailing list: http://lists.nuxeo.com/mailman/listinfo/ecm
If you would like to join us in this new endeavor, please join the list.
If you want to stay in the Zope world, it's your legitimate right and a sensible choice if CPS (or other Zope-based platforms) fit 100% of your needs. The CPS mailing lists will stay open and our team is still available for the time we will keep on supporting CPS, that is 3 years (at least).
If you have questions, please start by reading the FAQ.
Thank you, hopefully, for your support.
S.
This is really interesting news. Nuxeo CPS is very popular in France and Nuxeo has made large contributions to the Zope community and had grand plans for Zope 3 with their Z3ECM project. This move appears to come from left field. CPS is a very mature project with a solid install base. The port to Java is going to be very disruptive. It is possible that Nuxeo was feeling pressure from Alfresco. Nuxeo was justifiably irritated when Alfresco jumped into the marketplace claiming to be the first open source ECM out there when CPS had been out there for years and actually was delivering on the different aspects of ECM: web content management, document management, digital asset management. CPS is still well ahead of Alfresco when it comes to non-file based functionality.
So does this mean that "Enterprise" is just a synonym for "Java?" My experience is that many large organizations have standardized on Java and are uncomfortable about shaking things up. Alternative technologies (PHP, Python, Ruby) appear to be acceptable for new, experimental, or experimental initiatives but less so for core services like how a company manages its internal assets. I am wondering if Nuxeo was getting that kind of feedback.
[Note: All companies do not think this way. Thankfully, companies like Google and 37signals don't. Otherwise, they would not be able to innovate at the pace that they do. But this does seem to be the opinion of the majority of companies that try to stay away from the bleeding edge.]
Sep 20, 2006
ATI and eZ systems are hosting an introduction to open source content management and eZ publish on October 20th in the Washington DC area (Tysons Corner for you beltway folks). Here are the details. Earlier in the summer, I presented (slides) with one of ATI's clients: Page Glennie from the Department of the Navy. Mr. Glennie had a great case study about how they consolidated a bunch of Navy acquisition web sites using eZ publish and saved a boat load of money.
Sep 19, 2006
Matt Asay just posted this article based on a report by SitePoint and Ektron (thanks Martin Bähr for the heads up) about how open source software is starting to become the dominant way to manage content on the Internet.
A huge swath of the web is managed by open source, with the vast majority of the remainder well-positioned to be consumed by open source.
Note: this is "managed" not "served." The web server war was already one by the Apache web server. I think these statistics say a couple of things:
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Open source content management software is out there and performing
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The demographics of the web are changing. Call it Web 2.0. Call it the long tail. Lots of individuals and small organizations are publishing like crazy and the tools they are choosing are open source. Small groups in large organizations are doing the same thing.
Sep 19, 2006
Bryant Shea (from Molecular) and I have started to do a regular podcast in conjunction with CM Professionals on content management trends. Here is our first public episode. This week we are joined by John Eckman (Optaros) and Riccardo La Rossa (Molecular) in a discussion of the implications of Web 2.0 to content management. Comments are welcome. And if you want to be a guest, let us know.
Sep 14, 2006
I don't normally like the standard webcast format (either as an audience member or presenter) so when it was my turn to do the next Optaros webinar, I proposed a more interactive session with no slides, more audience participation, and more dialog.
I got my wish and I am excited about this event: Tuesday, September 26th, 2006. 1PM Eastern Daylight Time. Joining me will be Matt Asay from Alfresco, Paul Everitt from ZEA Partners, and, my colleague, the esteemed Dr. John Eckman. I don't know exactly how the session is going to play out but here is what I am thinking....
We are not going to talk about products, functionality, market share, magic quadrants or any of those boring vendor or analyst presentation topics. Instead, we are going to talk about the benefits and implications of open source software in the content management industry. Here are the types of questions we will be discussing
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Are there fundamental differences between open source and proprietary content management systems?
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How should an open source content management solution be selected?
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What types of organizations are best positioned to use open source software to solve their content management challenges?
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What are the benefits and limitations of open source content management systems?
But the audience will really determine the direction of the discussion because we will be asking the audience to chat in their questions. From the experience of the panel, we can answer questions about how open source software companies function, open source implementation projects, living with open source solutions, why people participate in open source. If you have seen one of the panelists speak and could not fight your way through the crowd to ask a follow up question, or you are just intrigued by this idea of free software and want to see what all the fuss is about, you should join us.
Sep 13, 2006
Everything you need to know about building a Plone Site
Books
- This book is a little outdated but it is really good at getting you started using Plone and understanding the architecture. I have heard that Plone Content Management Essentials is also a good getting started book but I have not read it.
- When you are starting to get serious about building websites in Plone, you should read Plone Live. This book discusses how to do Filesystem based development and packaging components as products. It is also regularly updated, which maybe all books out open source should be.
- At the point where you start writing Python code that is more advanced than what you copy of the web, buy Dive Into Python. This will walk you through some nicely written Python code and explain how it works.
- Although seriously out of date and out of print, The Zope Bible is still the best book on the Zope 2.x series. Unfortunately, the newer Zope books are all on Zope 3.x which is less relevant to your average Plone developer.
Tutorials
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File System Plone Skin. The plone.org site looks nice but in case you don't want you site to look exactly like it, follow this tutorial. Don't dump stuff into the custom folder in the ZMI. Do it the right way.
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Running Plone behind Apache. If you are going to expose your Plone site on the big Internet, you should run it behind Apache. Here is the most detailed description of how to do it.
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CacheFu and Squid. If you think your site might get some heavy traffic. Run CacheFu.
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Zope/ZEO Configuration. If you think that someone would care if your Zope instance crashed, or if you want more performance, set up a ZEO configuration.
Hire a Teacher
Joel Burton runs a great program called Plone Bootcamps. It is amazingly affordable if you have a big group. Nate Aune from Jazkarta is an excellent source for more customized training.
Sep 13, 2006
CMS Watch just announced version 10 of the CMS Report. If you have not seen the CMS Report in a while, you should consider buying this release. Not only is there more open source coverage (TYPO3 and eZ publish has been added in addition to OpenCMS, Plone, Zope/CMF, and Midgard), and more coverage of the low to middle tier, Theresa Regli has updated some of the front best-practice sections.
Sep 12, 2006
I am doing a joint presentation in Toronto with Julian Mills from Prescient Digital. As the agenda says, seating is extremely limited. Here is the agenda:
How to fix a broken Intranet
__October 11, 2006 Toronto, Ontario
__Prescient Digital Media, 180 Bloor Street West Suite 1102
Organizations build an intranet to facilitate communication, encourage collaboration, and streamline processes. Unfortunately, too many of these internal sites have failed to achieve their business objectives and now require fixing.
Social software — notably blogs, wikis and social bookmarking — offer powerful solutions for fixing a broken intranet. And open source content management solutions provide an ideal platform for supporting these applications, because they enable organizations to afford experimentation and reduce the innovation cycle.
A 90 minute information packed session offered Free at 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. in Toronto, presented by Julian Mills, of Prescient Digital Media, and Seth Gottlieb, of Optaros.
Seating is limited – register today! Register before September 27 and be entered to win a USB watch.
Agenda:
8:30/3:30: Welcome and introduction
8:45/3:45: Strategies and case studies for fixing and intranet and implementing social software: Prescient Digital Media
9:15/4:15: Implementing social software with open source CMS: Optaros
9:45/4:45: Q & A
Sep 12, 2006
John Newton's blog post on the commoditization of ECM was so good that I nearly stood up and clapped when I finished reading it. In this article, John talks about how ECM has become commoditized - not to the point where the business problems are easily solved but rather to the point where growth is flat and differentiation is vendor size rather than functionality. As with most commoditized markets open source brings an opportunity to put in infrastructure that provides basic services at reduced cost so that resources are available to invest in integration and deployment.
Alfresco is not afraid of the fact that "size matters" in this mature market with EMC, IBM and Microsoft dominating. He believes that open source gives Alfresco an advantage over the heavyweights because of reduced product development and marketing costs and faster innovation cycles. It is interesting to hear Alfresco talk about open source because they are both consumer and producer of open source and they benefit from both sides. As a consumer, they were able to quickly build their product using best of breed open source components from external projects that they can collaborate and partner with (just like any enterprise can). As a producer they are able to have a longer, more cost-effective reach because their software is freely downloadable: "Open source is therefore able to go farther and broader than even Microsoft to places that commercial software has not been to before, especially Enterprise Content Management."
In drawing parallels with other infrastructure markets, John points out the relational database software and the Java application server markets. Both of these matured into their present state of a massive consolidation of the commercial market accompanied by real opportunities for open source vendors as demonstrated by the success of MySQL, JBoss, and RedHat.
Great blog. I encourage you to read it if you have not already done so.