[Evangelism] Re: Sharepoint vs. Plone
On 5 May 2009, at 01:32, Nate Aune wrote: I had a couple of people come by the stand and look at the brochure, and when I approched them they said 'oh we use microsfot technology...' or 'oh we are going to use sharepoint'. I think the key is to really show users that Plone vs Sharepoint is like Apples vs Oranges. They really are different beasts. I normally start by telling people that they can co-exist together and really serve slightly different functions. The people I showed demos to of Plone at the expo really were blown away by the flexibility of Plone and what can be achieve with it. Yes, it's not fair to compare the two systems because they are fundamentally targeting different use cases, but one cannot deny that Plone's feature set overlaps a lot with what Sharepoint provides, and vice versa. The thing being that in many cases, whilst they target different use cases, I think that Plone *is* a better fit than sharepoint at many things people install sharepoint to do. -Matt -- Matt Hamilton ma...@netsight.co.uk Netsight Internet Solutions, Ltd. Understand. Develop. Deliver http://www.netsight.co.uk +44 (0)117 9090901 Web Design | Zope/Plone Development Consulting | Co-location | Hosting ___ Evangelism mailing list Evangelism@lists.plone.org http://lists.plone.org/mailman/listinfo/evangelism
[Evangelism] Plone vs. Drupal
If anyone wants to chime in on this blog post requesting feedback about Plone vs. Drupal, I've just made a comment directing him to other resources on the subject, but I'm sure he would welcome feedback from others in the Plone community. http://www.fprimex.com/blog/2009/04/comparing-plone-drupal-need-input Nate -- Nate Aune - na...@jazkarta.com Sign up for Plone Developer training on the Amalfi Coast of Italy (5/11-12). http://plonedev-natesig.eventbrite.com ___ Evangelism mailing list Evangelism@lists.plone.org http://lists.plone.org/mailman/listinfo/evangelism
[Evangelism] Plone Messaging (was: How would you position Plone?)
It seems that a lot of the things we can improve on in our community can trace their origins back to messaging. Witness Chris Calloway's observations regarding damage to our reputation from consultants trying to solve any and every problem with Plone and poor expectations regarding how much adopters should expect to have to engage the services of consultants. Witness the confusion regarding whether Plone's sweet spot is an enterprise CMS or a small organization CMS (I think it may be both, but we're not good a communicating how that is). Witness the oft cited expectations problems with the 2.5 release and the pain I now feel about the surrendering already established expectations about the 4.0 release. Witness the framework vs product debate. We're now targeting the notion of Plone Base and Plone the Product and a Plone API but are we going to do enough to communicate what that means to the far reaches of Plone communities? I know that I and others appreciate the openness, democracy, and introspection in Plone communities that allows us to be honest about how the glass is half empty but regret that more isn't done to share and express how the glass is half full. It also seems that our marketing story could be significantly improved with a better shared understanding of the various different messages we'd like to get out there. To be sure, I like the decentralized and democratic character of Plone communities and I don't in any way suggest we sacrifice that. I do think, however, that there's a lot we can do in the way of instilling sufficient messaging discipline without sacrificing those qualities. Bringing good release discipline by canonizing a release manager, for example, has been a huge win for Plone user experience without sacrificing the openness of Plone development. I think appointing a Messaging manager would be a bad idea, I only cite that as an example of how discipline can be improved without sacrificing openness. I know the PSPS did a lot to address messaging in the Plone world. I wonder, however, if recently we're not once more drifting too far from sufficient messaging discipline. It seems likely such drift is bound to recur without some sort of somewhat central institution concerned with discipline. I don't think control is necessary here. This is one of the great things about Plone communities. We respond well to a sense of shared mission. The value here would not be in policing, but rather in ensuring that we have a continuous dedication of resources to the matter of messaging. The mission might be merely to start the discussions that need to happen but aren't and to take the messages that come out of all relevant discussions and ensure their wide dissemination to the far reaches of Plone communities. It would also have to be a broad, rather than narrow, team with strong technical, marketing, and user voices to ensure integral messaging. Messaging like this can have a subtle effect that may become very powerful when compounded through shared understanding and repetition. So could a team be formed or delegated with the responsibility of reviewing Plone messaging? Would such an institution be a slippery slope to too much dogma or other stifling restriction? What might be some other ways to improve messaging in Plone communities? Is this an issue we're already addressing sufficiently and we just need to give it time? Is there a value to enshrining this process even if it's already happening? Is this not an issue? :) Ross ___ Evangelism mailing list Evangelism@lists.plone.org http://lists.plone.org/mailman/listinfo/evangelism
Re: [Evangelism] Plone Messaging (was: How would you position Plone?)
So could a team be formed or delegated with the responsibility of reviewing Plone messaging? Would such an institution be a slippery slope to too much dogma or other stifling restriction? What might be some other ways to improve messaging in Plone communities? Is this an issue we're already addressing sufficiently and we just need to give it time? Is there a value to enshrining this process even if it's already happening? Is this not an issue? :) I believe that this is already being addressed with the work Gabrielle, Mark, et. al. have been doing. It's slowly becoming more and more visible (15 Questions, organized representation at events like NTEN World Internet Expo, etc). While I'm not sure exactly who all is involved on the team, from what I've heard, there is a plan taking shape. I'm sure, like most of our teams, they probably need more help. Personally, I think one of the things that would help is a formal PR/Marketing/Evangelism contact so that any journalists looking to write about Plone or any press releases put out always have a representative to go to. Establishing a relationship with the such people can be very valuable when it comes to promoting events like World Plone Day or the Conference. Telling people to contact a mailing list just isn't enough (tho I think it should still be done so we have a record of such messages/inquiries). Establishing a leadership team for the doc team has helped us get organized and we operate much like the framework team. Having a recognized leadership for all of Plone's working groups might benefit from a guiding team? ___ Evangelism mailing list Evangelism@lists.plone.org http://lists.plone.org/mailman/listinfo/evangelism
[Evangelism] Re: Plone Messaging
JoAnna Springsteen jluv...@gmail.com writes: So could a team be formed or delegated with the responsibility of reviewing Plone messaging? Would such an institution be a slippery slope to too much dogma or other stifling restriction? What might be some other ways to improve messaging in Plone communities? Is this an issue we're already addressing sufficiently and we just need to give it time? Is there a value to enshrining this process even if it's already happening? Is this not an issue? :) I believe that this is already being addressed with the work Gabrielle, Mark, et. al. have been doing. It's slowly becoming more and more visible (15 Questions, organized representation at events like NTEN World Internet Expo, etc). While I'm not sure exactly who all is involved on the team, from what I've heard, there is a plan taking shape. I'm sure, like most of our teams, they probably need more help. Personally, I think one of the things that would help is a formal PR/Marketing/Evangelism contact so that any journalists looking to write about Plone or any press releases put out always have a representative to go to. Establishing a relationship with the such people can be very valuable when it comes to promoting events like World Plone Day or the Conference. Telling people to contact a mailing list just isn't enough (tho I think it should still be done so we have a record of such messages/inquiries). Establishing a leadership team for the doc team has helped us get organized and we operate much like the framework team. Having a recognized leadership for all of Plone's working groups might benefit from a guiding team? I meant messaging in a sense larger than just marketing. I think we need to better communicate with and educate our communities of consultants, developers, and users regarding subjects other than just marketing and press. For example, what expectations should consultants communicate to technically minded clients about features in the next release? When a sysadmin and sometimes hacker at a non-profit gets excited about Plone and starts advocating for its usage internally, what will she have read that helped her set expectations that will guide her towards success? What will a consultant have read by the time they decide to start taking on Plone jobs to help guide ethical and successful consulting? If any of these people started or joined discussions on IRC, on the mailing lists, or at a conference, will the community members participating in those discussions have encountered enough queues about appropriate messaging? These kind of messages are not largely or exclusively technically, marketing, or user oriented. They require a cohesion of all concerns. Maybe I'm trying to be structural about something that shouldn't be addressed that way. It does seem, however, that this is a significant challenge for our communities. No? Ross ___ Evangelism mailing list Evangelism@lists.plone.org http://lists.plone.org/mailman/listinfo/evangelism
