Stronger Together

In the Open Source CMS space, it's not hard to find plenty of content comparing "Drupal vs. WordPress" as if it is an either-or fight.

The real battle is any of the Open Source CMS options vs. proprietary SaaS products and the inherent risk of vendor lock-in.

Here's a snapshot in the form of two recent government RFP's.

In one, from a department in the state of Washington, a Q&A response cut right to the chase of why closed-source SaaS is a risk to continuing business operations:

“We understand that vendors proposing proprietary CMS solutions may not be willing to surrender source code or other proprietary information. Our primary concern is ensuring the continuity of services and data preservation, especially if the vendor is no longer able to provide support. Instead of insisting on the surrender of ownership, we are open to understanding how vendors plan to address the transition of services. Specifically, we would like vendors to explain their contingency plans for scenarios such as their business closure. Please provide details on how you plan to suspend services, and how we can seamlessly continue to host the website in such circumstances.”

Ever suffered from Google retiring a product you depended on? Yeah, the above is a version of that.

Meanwhile, in Georgia, a recent RFP for a city web site included this:

"(NOTE: The City will not consider proposals for websites built on platforms such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc.)."

Yet, a couple pages later it stated this requirement:

"Zero cost for use of APIs."

Ummm, that's not how any of this works. If you want SaaS products you are going to pay for use of the software. And you're forever at risk of price hikes in future years, having to weigh the cost of moving to something else vs. paying the increase.

A new alliance among Open Source CMS solutions offers hope for the future. Realizing they are stronger together, the international community organizations behind Drupal, Joomla, TYPO3, and WordPress have joined forces with a message to decision-makers to always choose Open Source software over proprietary systems.

It started in 2023 with an open letter in response to the European Union's proposed Cyber Resilience Act, which represented significant liability risks to the health of Open Source software communities.

"We realized we're stronger as a united voice than arguing it separately," said Tim Doyle, CEO of the Drupal Association and the first chair of the Open Website Alliance. "From that experiment, we decided there’s value in presenting Open Source as a preferential option. We can claim 50 percent of the websites worldwide are on these platforms. From an advocacy perspective, that’s very powerful."

Doyle said the alliance's goal is to convince decision makers to "choose Open Source first and then look at what option is best for your product."

Despite powering 50 percent of the the web, it remains an uphill battle against SaaS sales teams armed with budgets for lavish executive golf outings and plenty of FUD material against Open Source.

Stronger together.

Upcoming Events

March 11, 2024: Civic Hack Night Social Club, Tech Square ATL

March 26, 2024; The Atlanta JavaScript Meetup Group, Tech Square ATL

April 9-11, 2024: Devnexus 2024, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta

October 22-23, 2024: SOSS Fusion 24, The Hotel at Avalon, Alpharetta

Jobs

Unit Director, GovHub, Georgia Technology Authority

We aim to feature available Open Source jobs in the Atlanta area in this space each week. Use the contact form on the opensourceatlanta.com site to submit your job posting if you are hiring.

About

Open Source Atlanta's mission is to help support and build the Open Source Software communities in the Atlanta area. We will start with a weekly newsletter focused on Open Source, and we plan to organize regular events including meetups and camps. If you remember the good old days of the Atlanta Drupal Users Group, this place is for you.