PureEdit: not just another CMS….?

15Feb08

Ive done my share of wading through the Open Source content management forest/sandpit/hell. What made it hurt most was not knowing if a particular CMS was right for you, until you download, install and customize to fit your requirements. You build a mock up to show your boss, and he is blown away, really impressed at how much youve done in so short a time. Gives the go signal to develop. You work on it, everything is set, and you launch. A couple hundred users sign up, everything is going well…until. Your boss the software engineer from days long gone (..in my day we had punch cards..), decides to implement a new security protocol. You try to explain that the existing one is robust, agile, scalable,simple but most of all it friggin works…you hurl every catch phrase you can think of to exorcise the beast, but you know it is futile. He looks at you like you were some spoiled kid who just wants to get his way. Now your screwed. You implement the new security nightmare protocol, and hack away at the code. You feel like your killing an old friend, sawing away at its neck with a dull hand saw. Bugs come out from nowhere, users flee. And guess whos fault it is? …”Told you not to use that open source crap…We should have built it from the ground up…in my day, we used punch cards…”

PureEdit is only five days old, and the core idea is very original. Its neat and clean. It’s simple and does not have that incomplete feel other ’simple’ CMSs out there have. Im sure this is how most CMS start out, really flexible and simple. I think the trick is to not let it get bloated with ‘wonderful’ features. The core download should be as light and simple as possible, then users should be able to painlessly attach and remove features as needed. Micheal Dick (the developer) seems to be a very talented guy. I think he’s got really sharp innate marketing skill. Basically what he is doing is trying to sell ice to eskimos, and so far he is doing a good job at it. Im gonna keep tabs on this project, it could turn out to be something really cool.

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Tags: CMS, Eskimos, Pure Edit