Open Source Cms Software Is FreeContent Management Software (CMS) is a great way to keep your organization's files, documents and multimedia resources organized and on schedule. What could be better? CMS for free! There are many CMS available as open source software. Open source software is designed to view users as co-developers. Open source depends on a community of users to develop and expand the functions and abilities of the individual software. Users are able to download open source software and install it on their own server. Users are given full access to the source code of the software. They are then encouraged to edit and/or add to the code as they see fit and report any bugs or fixes to the community of that particular software. Users are also encouraged to help write documentation for further users of the software. Open source development for Content Management Software is extremely important because it allows a software program to expand far beyond what the original programmer could create. Additional users require different modules, add-ons and plug-ins. If one organization can utilize a certain type of add-on, it is very likely that another organization will require the same type of add-on at some point. With a community of different users requiring different add-ons for specific functionality, a new user of an open source Content Management Software will have a very high chance of finding an add-on that fits their needs or can easily be customized to fit their specific needs. These add-ons are usually referred to as modules or plug-ins, depending on the software. Before choosing an open source CMS, check out what modules/plug-ins are available for the software to see if they will fit in with your needs. With the number of open source Content Management Software that is available on the web, it is difficult to know which CMS will best fit in with your capabilities and requirements. This is another place where open source comes in very handy. Remember, they are free and based on a community. Most open source CMS have extensive, active community forums where you can go to ask questions about what the software can do, so you will know if the software can do what you require. Also, if you try an open source CMS and it doesn't work out the way you'd like, you haven't spent your hard earned money on a useless program. You can just search for another open source CMS and download it - for free! A note about open source software licensing, always check the license requirements for an open source Content Management Software before you decide to use it. Some CMS requires that you keep the original copyright notice in the footer. Some will give you the option to remove the copyright notice if you pay a one-time to use the software for life. Others don't have any licensing requirements, and you are free to customize freely, as you so choose. Open source CMS are mostly released under the GNU General Public License. This license allows a user to download an open source CMS, modify it and redistribute it for free or for a fee. However, some restrictions can apply, and those are based solely on the individual software. |