Importance of Open Source Content Management System

Content management systems that are available as open source on the internet are known as Open source content management systems. More number of Open source content management systems are available in the market today, as the commercial content management systems come with a huge price tag. The Open source content management systems that are available today are equally efficient as any other commercial content management systems, due to the involvement of larger number of people in developing systems that match most of the basic business requirements.

You can get the code of an Open source content management system free of cost. Not all the open source code is available for free. Some are nominally charged. The rates of Open source content management system are very cheap compared with the commercial content management systems which have a price range from a few thousand to millions of dollars. Licenses of some of the Open source content management systems allow free use by non commercial organizations, but charge for corporate use. Small websites, non-profit organizations and government departments employ Open source content management systems, as these systems are available at low cost.

As Open Source Content Management Systems are available at no cost or a reasonable cost, expenses for software which makes up a huge sum is saved. The saved amount can be used to address some critical supporting tasks which include customizing the content management system to match specific business needs, integrating the content management system with other business systems, developing templates, stylesheets and publishing code, and reviewing, restructuring, and creating content. Some other critical supporting tasks include conducting usability tests both on the site and the content management system, providing training to authors and end users, and conducting communication and change management activities. These tasks are sure to have an impact in the success of any project.

The Open source content management systems provide an unparalleled degree of flexibility, as the entire code of the system is accessible. Only Open source content management systems provide access to the entire code free of cost. With full access of the code, local developers can make any required changes to the system, so as to meet the specific business requirements.

Open source content management systems are developed using open tools such as PHP, Perl, Python, Java, and Unix. Working in an open environment increases active participation of more developers, as no legal issues arise on using software that are available for free. Open platforms increase the amount of supporting software and also reduces the cost of employing developers.

Integration of Open source content management systems with other software is made simpler by a combination of multiple open platforms and due to simplicity of customization of the systems. Active communities of a few hundreds or thousands of developers are associated with the development of Open source content management systems. This proves to be a major advantage for Open source content management systems over the commercial content management systems, as critical support is available at any time direct from the developers involved.

Hundreds of vendors in the market provide commercial content management solutions to suit the business requirements of every organization. As the cost of these commercial systems tends to go high with every passing day, people are moving towards the open source option. Also if a product is terminated or the vendor goes bankrupt, support for that product immediately ceases. The open source option helps eliminate the reliance on a single vendor for all support and upgrades. Whenever the terminated product is made available on the public domain, full access to the code allows for ongoing in-house development. As a result, Open Source Content Management Systems are future proofed against market uncertainty.

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