CMS alternatives: low-cost tools bring high-end results
Christopher Fuller
Published: 06 May 2003 15:09 BST
With the recent release of Content Management Server, Microsoft has temporarily stolen the limelight in the CMS space. But if you're looking for alternatives, plenty are available, from no- to low-cost systems for updating your Web site to full-featured application environments that give you access to enterprise document management.
Let's look at why you should include a CMS in your infrastructure, and then examine a few CMS alternatives.
The case for content management
More and more organisations are recognising the value of structuring public and proprietary information for easy access, controlled updates, and document creation for a wide range of employees and departments, and even for the public.
For many small and medium sized businesses (SMBs), the move toward content management begins with a need to adapt the company Web site or intranet so non-technical employees can update it easily. This might begin when your HR director wants to make changes quickly and often to your intranet, but doesn't want to start a 10-step process involving your IT staff to do so. Neither you nor your HR director have time for a two-day training session in HTML.
And let's face it -- if managing the company intranet or Web site shows up on your list of job responsibilities, you really don't want everyone in the company to have free rein to make changes.
For larger companies, this initial need for basic content management is often coupled with a need to organise valuable documents from a variety of sources -- usually with different data types, many of which might be obsolete -- for easy employee access. This necessitates a longer view of your company's data management strategy and is going to require something a bit larger under the hood of your CMS.
The alternatives
CMS systems abound on the Internet. However, a few stand out as excellent alternatives to the more mainstream CMS choices you've probably heard about. I gathered this list of CMS programs for their easy integration and low- to no-cost features.
Cofax
Cofax is a Java/XML CMS that was initially developed by Knight Ridder for easy management of its many news sites. It was released under an open-source license, similar to the Apache license, in early 2000, and is in use by a number of independent sites, as well as all the news sites in the Knight Ridder family. Because it's Java-based, Cofax is platform-independent and is database-independent as well, with support for MySQL, MS SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and any database for which JDBC drivers are available.
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