[infrastructure] What platform is OSfA built on?

[Ean Schuessler]

A clearer statement would be that we are running OFBiz under Apache Tomcat. Drupal is a fine content management system but I think its CRM capabilities are weaker than OFBiz. Managing member relationships is a critical function. 

If you would like to run Drupal in the same context we could accomodate you with Caucho Resin. I don't think managing content with the current system has been problematic, so If I'm going to take time to set that up I would like commitments on what will be built with it. Terri or Melanie, have you found editing content to be a problem? 

----- "Greg DeKoenigsberg" wrote: 
> On Tue, 15 Sep 2009, Elizabeth Ziph wrote: > Hi Greg, > > I agree. The CMS is OFBIZ -- Open For Business http://ofbiz.apache.org/ I don't know whether it's even useful to start this discussion, as the ship might already have sailed for good, and if this is an academic discussion, forgive me... ...but I wonder ofbiz might be too heavy for the org's purposes. Here's the thing. An application stack like ofbiz is not just a CMS; it's a whole business platform with full CRM/ERP implementation. It's a great platform for a business that has those kinds of needs, and can pay staff to build a robust application that can run a business -- but OSfA isn't a business. It's an advocacy project that will rely almost entirely on volunteer labor to accomplish its goals. In the years I've come to rely on volunteer geek labor, I've found two rules to be paramount: Rule #1. Create the lowest possible barriers to entry for participation. Rule #2. Know thy contributor base. Open Source for America has an *outstanding* opportunity to draw volunteer support from the rank and file of open source developers -- but infrastructure choices matter. I personally know literally dozens of people who have played with Drupal. Until today, I'd never even heard of ofbiz. Now, that may be a function of the geeks I hang out with -- but the geeks I hang out with are the geeks who volunteer to do stuff, and I think it's a pretty representative sample. So, again, this ship may have sailed, and I can respect that -- but as it stands, Ean is carrying an awfully heavy load, and there's no one I see with the expertise to backfill him. Acquia is *the* Drupal company right now, and Drupal is *the* mass-market CMS leader, and you've got someone from Acquia on your infrastructure team. It may be worth reconsidering some core infrastructure choices. It can be painful to change gears, but if you're going to do it, better to do it sooner than later. My $0.02. --g -- Computer Science professors should be teaching open source. Help make it happen. Visit http://teachingopensource.org. 

-- 
Ean Schuessler, CTO Brainfood.com 
ean at brainfood.com - http://www.brainfood.com - 214-720-0700 x 315 
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