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Open Source vs. Open Source

I went to the monthly meeting of the Web Content Mavens last night. They were featuring a panel speaking on about 7 different Open Source Web Content Management systems. Some of the vendors present, like Alfresco, do more than web content, but web content was the focus. It was moderately interesting. I would have loved to see more interaction among the panelists, but it was good to hear their spin on what they each do best and to talk with them afterwards.

Before I say anything else, the highlight for me was when one of the panelist, a primary contributor to DotNetNuke, Antonio Chagoury, said,

You get what you pay for.

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The Endless Security Cycle

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I have been thinking about how to write this post for a while now. I have several approaches to choose from, but then I hit on the key concept. It doesn’t matter. Here is the general pattern of James’ approach to this topic.

  • James will criticize ECM security as a whole and then point to one or more issues.
  • I then attempt to explain why those key “issues” aren’t issues.
  • James will then elaborate or comment on my post in one or more follow-ups, usually explaining something that I didn’t put in my post for one or more reasons. In the case in point, I didn’t take it deep enough. While doing this, he ignores any defenses I may have made of the “issues”. He invariably bringing up other “issues” as well.

Rather than continue the cycle, and eat my time up, I’m going to post one more time on this topic and move on for now. Some disclaimers of my own:

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Embracing SharePoint, Recipe for Death?

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Wanted to take a quick break to comment on a post I read on Big Men On Content. This is a blog I have recently added to my regular read list, such as I read any blog “regularly” these days given my recent workload. It mentions into the perils of ECM vendors hitching their wagon to SharePoint with the observation that Microsoft doesn’t need them. They are right and they are wrong. Where they are wrong is slight and the whole concept is worth exploring.

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DQL versus SQL

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James has often compared DQL and SQL, assigning the security weaknesses of one to the other. While there may be valid concerns for some ECM query languages, DQL is actually fairly secure from this type of attack. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t foolproof, but it isn’t an apples to apples comparison. Let’s compare and look. Be sure to add comments to question or add.

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SharePoint and ECM Working Together

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Andrew Chapman got a new gig. He is now in charge of SharePoint solutions for EMC. I am assuming that this includes Content Services for SharePoint (notice the old site link still works) as well as any other current and future products. I couldn’t be happier. Andrew knows how to listen and evolve his thoughts based upon new information and experiences.

In many ways, this is an out-growth of his work in the world of compliance and records. He had seen how organizations were having trouble managing their growing SharePoint environments and they were asking him how to get Documentum and SharePoint to work together. Organizations like SharePoint’s user-interface and Documentum’s ability to enforce business rules and manage the large amounts of information being stored. Andrew voiced his opinion one too many times and his new job was born.

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One EMC and eRoom’s Place There

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So you may, or may not, have realized that EMC recently changed their website. Now, if I was a storage customer, my first reaction would have been, Oooooooo. Pretty. However, as a Documentum/ECM guy, I also went Where did all my stuff go?

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BEA…Going, Going, Gone

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So, a while back, Oracle made a play for BEA at $17 per share. BEA told them to take a hike for anything under $21. Today, BEA caved at $19.375. That’s right, caved. When you offer someone a 25% premium and then later are able to buy them for only a 24% premium, you win. Yeah, they may be spending an extra $1.8 billion, but BEA is worth a lot more now. What does this mean? It depends on who you ask…

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Measuring ECM Performance

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I was reading a post by Lopataru on his blog. For those that haven’t read his blog, Lopataru is working on his PhD research, focusing on Content Management. He is trying to determine what makes a Content Management system high-performance. I’m not going to analyze his thoughts, but I am going to add some independent thought to the issue.

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Patenting a Standard

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I haven’t been a big booster of JSR-170, the Content Repository for Java Technology API, or its sequel JSR-283 here. It isn’t that I have anything against them, it is just that I think that the bigger problem is at a higher level of the architecture stack. I think ECM systems should be accessed through Services and not APIs whenever possible. It is also a little too technology focused.

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A 15-Minute Guide to SOA and ECM

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I was browsing the EMC website the other day and ran across this document, “A 15-Minute Guide to Service-Oriented Architecture and ECM“. I was intrigued so I checked it out. This is one of a new series of documents that EMC is putting out around IT Management aimed at quickly educating the IT Professional. I am not their target as this is aimed at end-users.

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