21st July 2011 by Rob Foddering
What is open source software?
We believe in the power of open source. Open Source Software is developed by a worldwide community of programmers for free and open use. You might have used open source software before such as the browser Firefox and you’ve certainly used the web server Apache (albeit indirectly – most websites run off Apache) and you might also have used a Linux operating system such as Ubuntu.
Is it any good?
Yes, lots of businesses use it as well as government organisations – the White House website uses the open source Control Management System (CMS) – Drupal.
What’s a Control Management System?
It makes sense if you are going to run a website that you are in control of it. With Content Management Systems you can do this. You login to the back end of a website and change content.
What do you use?
We use a variety of open-source content management systems, including Drupal, WordPress, Joomla and Magento. The choice of system depends on your needs.
Why use Open Source Content Management Systems?
As these systems are free and open to anyone, meaning that we can pass that saving and freedom on to you. They also enable you to take control of your site and edit as you see fit, without recurring further cost from us. In short it’s cheaper, quicker and it put’s you in control.
That sounds great, are there any draw backs?
In general it’s a win win scenario, the only thing with open source software that you have to keep an eye on is security. The open source community issues security updates on a regular basis and it’s important to keep your website up to date to prevent it from being at risk.
If you’re interesting in setting up an content managed website contact us here.
*Open image used in this blog by Todd Huffman on Flickr.
