Irina Guseva: Random Thoughts on CMS, WCM, ECM and Other Acronyms

Almost every content management vendor gets to a certain point when a reach-out to integrators and agencies is a must. Usually, this move is associated with vendor growth.

Hippo, the makers of open source Enterprise Hippo CMS, have reached that exact point and inked an agreement with Capgemini Nederland B.V.

Tjeerd Brenninkmeijer, Hippo co-founder/CCO (left), and Kees Birkhoff, Delivery Director Public at Capgemini NL

Capgemini Nederland B.V. is a subsidiary of Capgemini, one of the most known firms for consulting, technology and outsourcing services. In 2008, Capgemini reportedly made EUR 8.7 billion in global revenue. The firm has presence in more than 30 countries and employs about 90,000 people worldwide.

Hippo-Capgemini partnership is designed to focus on Web Content Management (Hippo CMS 7) and portal solutions, and adding more implementation power to the Hippo ecosystem.

According to the company, some Capgemini’s consultants already received advanced training in Hippo’s technologies. It has also been said that they are participating in the open source Hippo community to “stay on top of new features and functionality.” Sounds like a good step. As we know, Hippo CMS is now in a much-revamped version 7.0, which, most recently, got to the 7.1 release and started shipping as a bundle with Apache Jetspeed Portal 2.2 and Hippo Site Toolkit.

Originally published on CMSWire:  Hippo CMS Team Inks Strategic Partnership with Capgemi

The subject of open source software licensing is rarely considered titillating. More often it inspires early afternoon naps.

Well, there’s been a change in the script and we’ve got a small civil war on our hands. Tempers and tensions have risen between US-based Bluenog and Netherlands-based Hippo — both companies deal in the content management space, both are tinkering with open source.

Now it’s not the fight we’re interested in — though it’s been a fun interlude of Days of Our [Software] Lives. Rather, it’s the principles behind the issue that are worth paying attention to.

In short, Bluenog has been accused of violating Hippo’s and Apache’s software licenses by using Hippo’s code and not properly giving attribution. We had a chat with both parties. Here’s what they had to say.

More on CMSWire: Oversights by Bluenog Spark Open Source Community Anger

Repackaging someone else’s code, sticking a new logo to it and selling it under a new name is one way to do it. But it is not the only way.

Perhaps, if there was a proper disclosure of origin from the very beginning, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. It seems, Bluenog (intentionally or not) have chosen a different path.

Another question here is whether open source is too liberal to be controlled: in code changes or licensing violations. One can hope for others’ good manners and sticking to legalities, yet the reality shows this is not the first (and not the last) debate on OSS licensing.

It wasn’t long ago when  Hippo CMS 7.0 came out. It was a major release with serious changes to the content management system’s core.

This 7.1 release does not bring significant news, but does introduce some changes that Hippo CMS users should take into account. There are some new features (mainly around CMS usability) and some “enhancements” as well. Boy, that was a looong JIRA list of bugs.

Full story on CMSWire: Hippo CMS 7.1 Focuses on Usability and Stability

The open source ECM vendor Hippo, in an effort to develop a closer relationship with the Jetspeed community, has been busy contributing to this Apache project and even released its own product and support package  for Apache Jetspeed 2.2.

Hippo seems to be on a mission to re-establish Jetspeed’s position as the top choice for performance-oriented enterprise portals.

Can this be a huge comeback for Jetspeed?

Hippo and Jetspeed: It’s Mutual

Hippo is quite known for its commitment to the open source industry and the Apache Software Foundation, so the news doesn’t come as a surprise. For Hippo, the benefit of working with Jetspeed is quite obvious.

What about Jetspeed you ask? Jetspeed is also on the receiving end of this mutually beneficial deal.

When was the last time you’ve heard about Jetspeed? When was the last time the interest in it spiked?

Hippo/Jetspeed relationship may be exactly what Jetspeed needs for its revival in the open source enterprise portal scene.

Hippo and Jahia (Together and Apart) Under Jetspeed Covers

Hippo is not alone in the Jetspeed ecosphere from the commercial open source standpoint.

Jahia, another open source enterprise content management vendor, has been tapping into Jetspeed powers as well. This match also seems to be made in Apache heaven.

Jahia focuses on web content management and portals as well, and in Jahia 5.0, the CMS included a Corporate Portal Server based on Jetspeed-2. It was built purely in Java, with Jahia source code available under a collaborative and community source license (=Jahia’s contribute or pay paradigm).

However, in the latest product version — Jahia 6.0 — the vendor moved away from “the more complicated Apache JetSpeed previously used” in their portal implementation. The technology is now based on Apache Pluto 2.0 and supports the portlets standard JSR-286.

What would be interesting to see is Hippo and Jahia collaborate on Apache Jetspeed. Surely, the two vendors can join forces to benefit the Apache community. Or, should we be less optimistic about Jetspeed and friendly rivalry?

Full story on CMSWire: Hippo Embraces Apache Jetspeed’s Revival

With its open source CMS — Hippo CMS 7.0 — recently out of the door, Hippo has found a partner in the U.S. to help implement the revamped product. CorraTech is an open source software services and consulting shop. The two will work together to deliver web content management solutions to mid-market and enterprise customers.

Growth is almost always falls in the same equation with demand. Hippo says they are experiencing an increase in the customer base in North America. Meaning it’s time to shake hands with some system integrators.

Full story on CMSWire: Hippo Hips Up in the U.S. Market, Gets New Partner

Open source offerings and associated services are getting better and starting to seem less risky, while IT budgets are shrinking.

Result? What’s bad for economy is clearly good for open source. A recent survey shows that web content management is one of the prime “targets” for disruption by open source.

Open source vendors rejoice, closed source companies nod in agreement and utter the magic word “interoperability.”

Full story on CMSWire: Bad Economy Is Good for Open Source