July 18th, 2007

We’ve recently expanded our content management system (CMS) portfolio to include eZ Publish, a leading enterprise-level, open source CMS.  Our new partnership with eZ Systems (http://ez.no) provides our clients new solutions to their content management business initiatives, and allows us to provide a well-supported open source solution - a first for Duo.

We initially selected eZ Publish as a solution for our internal product development. In researching open source content management systems, we outlined the following criteria:

• the solution should have a strong level of community support;
• it should provide sufficiently adequate “out of the box” functionality;
• the vendor should have a long-term strategic vision for the product;
• the solution should have a clear licensing model;
• the vendor should provide support for the solution.

eZ Publish met all of our criteria.

In getting to know the product, we quickly realized that eZ Publish could be a viable open source option for some of our clients. eZ Publish’s model allows users to choose both a support model and a licensing model that meets their needs.  Clients have the option to receive technical support directly from the vendor (though we will always provide support for the solutions we provide), and can also benefit from the knowledgebase shared in the active eZ Publish community.  The General Public License (GPL) can serve as the licensing model, as is the case with most open source Solutions, though clients can also select the eZ Proprietary Use License (eZPUL).

Open source solutions are not right for everybody. We are agnostic to the technologies and platforms we utilize when solving our clients’ problems, as every client has different needs. We will continue to offer and support our other partners’ content management solutions.

Anyone researching content management systems should start with CMS Watch (http://www.cmswatch.com).  Seth Gottlieb’s blog at ContentHere (http://contenthere.blogspot.com) is another resource, providing reviews of the current state of open source content management systems. Seth gave a great presentation at Web Content 2007 regarding the myths of open source. You can view many of the Web Content 2007 presentations on the WC2007 site. eZ Systems joined the event as a sponsor; read the ‘Sponsor Spotlight’ about eZ Systems.