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May 31
2010
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The source code is not the only thing that is open about open-source software.
Open source happens out in the open. By subscribing to user mail lists and other communication channels, it is easy to learn about what others are doing with the software, which features are good, and which features need work. Reading a project roadmap or the publicly accessible bug lists will tell you where the project is going, who is driving it, and whether the team is well organised. You can also get a feel for the personalities and the social dynamics of the group.
As you read through the archives, pay attention to questions that do not get answered and who answers the questions that do get answered. Having several people actively posting answers is a sign of a strong community that will survive if one of its principals moves on. Also look at the content of the answers. A reference to a document means that a document exists -- a good sign! A long set of step by step instructions may indicate that there is insufficient documentation and processes for creating documentation. It may also indicate that users need to constantly deal with work-arounds rather than actively maintaining the code base. For example, if you see instructions like -comment out the line that says x and add the following code ..." it could mean no one is patching in those fixes.

Mambo is a full-featured, award-winning content management system that can be used for everything from simple websites to complex corporate applications. It is used all over the world to power government portals, corporate intranets and extranets, ecommerce sites, nonprofit outreach, schools, church, and community sites. Mambo's "power in simplicity" also makes it the CMS of choice for many small businesses and personal sites.
Joomla is an award-winning content management system (CMS), which enables you to build Web sites and powerful online applications. Many aspects, including its ease-of-use and extensibility, have made Joomla the most popular Web site software available. Best of all, Joomla is an open source solution that is freely available to everyone.
What's TomatoCMS and what makes it different?
Who would believe that there would be an open source CMS based on Microsoft's ASP.NET? A CMS that can support any modern browser and that even allows editing with Microsoft Word. One where designers can create accessible and valid xhtml with their markup left intact. Where developers can integrate any .net based control right out of the box. If someone tells you "won’t happen", then they have never used umbraco...
As May draws to a close, there have been several notable sales and promos in the web hosting industry over the past week, including an e-commerce discount from LCN.com, 20-percent off Host Color's unlimited shared hosting plan, and at-cost .com domains from ResellerClub, as well as a draw for eco-friendly vehicles from FatCow.
Water & Stone, a web development company specializing in Open Source technologies, released a popularity survey of open source content management systems. In the analysis of 19 of the most prominent open source content management systems, Water and Stone evaluated
Anyone trying to evaluate open source content management systems is aware that there aren't a lot of recent, useful comparative reviews. What's surprising is that this issue is true even for such popular solutions as Drupal and Joomla.
Drupal 7 alpha version was released just over a month ago. Today, we're proud to announce the release of the fifth alpha version of Drupal 7.x for your further testing and feedback.
If you are new to
The microblogging service Twitter has announced that it will not allow any third party to insert advertisements in user timelines. The company has also upgraded its Terms of Service in regard to use of Twitter API.




