By morbus iff on

The popular IBM developerWorks site has started a new series entitled "Using open source software to design, develop, and deploy a collaborative Web site". After reviewing numerous open source packages such as Typo3, Mambo, and the ever-hyped Ruby on Rails, they "decided to use Drupal", remarking that it "provided the right combination of framework and flexibility . . . to get the job done". They also echo many of our user's concerns about potential complexity: "There is still an apparent learning curve to the "Drupal Way" of creating sites, but significantly less compared with other CMSs. The ability to use PHP to move freely between the business logic layer and the presentation layer (using the PHP template engine) was also very appealing." Read more over at IBM's developerWorks.

⋅ Categories: Drupal 4.7.x

Comments

bertboerland’s picture

bertboerland commented

Really, having big blue on board is a great way getting more resources and air time. some might see it as scary that such a big company gets involved, i dont. it is a big company but they are big enough to know they cant hug drupal to death. once again, great to see them choosing drupal.

seeing /why/ they choose for us is something our competitors can work at and our potential users can mirror their business needs at. did i already say great?

digg this
--
groets
bertb

--
groets
bert boerland

ericatkins’s picture

ericatkins commented

Digging: http://digg.com/programming/IBM_focuses_on_Drupal_for_new_developerWorks...

(...and you've got a new friend on digg. I'm "e0".)

drupal-is-OK’s picture

drupal-is-OK commented

This is a lot better for Drupal than for IBM. They can really drive an open source product / idea. Google is another company through their student programmer series really seems to be helping the cause.

myriad’s picture

myriad commented

smart choice

gateone’s picture

gateone commented

Big blue you are full of wonder lately ;-)
This is the initial project page by the way, look who appears in bold first on their list of things: http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/ibm/osource/index.html

bertboerland’s picture

bertboerland commented

but: An open source content management system... framework. it /must. be framework.

--
groets
bertb

--
groets
bert boerland

moshe weitzman’s picture

moshe weitzman commented

terrific news ... FYI, I have no relation to Louis Weitzman, who is one of the authors of this article.

greggles’s picture

greggles
he/him
Primary language English
Location Denver, Colorado, USA
commented

Drupal is written on top of a database abstraction layer, so the framework can be easily extended to other database back ends

Someone should have told us that before we got started on this discussion...

--
Growing Venture Solutions
Drupal Implementation and Support in Denver, CO

--
Morris Animal Foundation

mwu’s picture

mwu commented

This is fabulous news. It reaffirms my decision to use Drupal.

we should get permission to put the entire article on the drupal website and make it easy to find

We should definitely put this in the handbook and make it widely available as a marketing resource for consultants.

Zack Rosen’s picture

Zack Rosen commented

Now that's some good marketing....

http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/ibm/library/i-osource1/cms_compari...

gilsmethod’s picture

gilsmethod commented

This is great news for our Drupal community ---- GO Drupal!

Visit My Drupal Site www.gilsmethod.com and tell me what you think!

rajaiskandarshah’s picture

rajaiskandarshah commented

I liked the popular content block.

How is that done ?

Raja Iskandar Shah
Consulting for Malaysian Business
www.norazilaco.biz

sosuke’s picture

sosuke commented

my respect for IBM is going up! I am a recent Drupal convert and I think this kind of attention will be really beneficial, thanks for let me know about this article!

styro’s picture

styro commented

at http://dita.xml.org

Although DITA is now an OASIS standard, IBM originally created it and are still the main sponsors and developers for DITA. I don't know how much input IBM had into choosing Drupal though.

(if you're wondering, DITA is an XML content format (a bit like Docbook) aimed at facilitating content reuse.)

--
Anton
New to Drupal? | Forum posting tips | Troubleshooting FAQ
Example Knowledge Base built using Drupal

yaph’s picture

yaph commented

I used Joomla/Mambo and TYPO3 before I came to Drupal. I think IBM's decision really is a good one.

--
ramiro.org

sime’s picture

sime
any/any
Location Melbourne
commented

The fact that Drupal topped the pack is one thing.

More importantly to me, this is a great independent review that should help people decide if Drupal is right for them.

Amazon’s picture

Amazon commented

It's great to see my old team at IBM adopt Drupal. This team is focused on helping IBM use the latest and greatest tools. Back when I was on the team in 1998 we were some of the earliest adopters of Linux, Instant Messaging, and XML in IBM. The fact that this team is using Drupal is a very good sign.

Between this team using Drupal and a IBM.com Information Architect using Drupal for his IA projects we are in a good position to see a serious grass roots adoption in IBM.

Cheers,
Kieran
CivicSpace

Kieran Lal

Gunnar Langemark’s picture

Gunnar Langemark commented

You mean Keith Instone I presume...
;-)

I've always been thrilled and puzzled to see how information architects do or do not "get" Drupal. I've been part of the IA loop for six years now, and I've seen a number of IAs evaluate Drupal, choose Drupal or drop Drupal.
Those who want data and metadata get a kick out of Drupal. Those who want usability and design - seem to shy away.
The only exception is Michael Angeles of urlgreyhot - afaik.

That IBM is now taking to Drupal is very exciting.
The attention alone is worth a lot.

Is there any way we can get these guys on board?

Gunnar Langemark
http://www.langemark.com

keithinstone’s picture

keithinstone commented

Yes, I am the IBM.com information architect who has been using Drupal for a few years for my personal and volunteer sites.

I did an IBM internal search about a year ago and found 1 group who had tried Drupal out for a project, but they had abandoned it.

I had nothing to do with this IBM group choosing Drupal, but it is good to see. I will touch base with them and help keep the IBM-Drupal connection going. I know IBM encourages many developers to participate in open source communities - maybe we can get some other IBMers to join us.

ericatkins’s picture

ericatkins commented

Looks like we just survived a front page digg. Drupal.org admins want to show any stats?

bertboerland’s picture

bertboerland commented

4k with a referrer from digg in 10-20 h or so (dries posted that on a mailinglist)

--
groets
bertb

--
groets
bert boerland

Walt Esquivel’s picture

Walt Esquivel commented

The fact that IBM has embraced Drupal will almost certainly cause a ripple effect across the board as other Fortune 500, large-, medium-, and small-sized firms continue serious evaluation of OSS CMS platforms.

The fact that Drupal is so well put-together and the fact highly dedicated developers have contributed 306 modules (at my last count as of 7/14/06) and 53 themes speaks volumes about the growing Drupal popularity and usage as a preferred OSS CMS.

I'm very pleased to have chosen Drupal for my business needs!

Walt Esquivel, MBA; MA; President, Wellness Corps; Captain, USMC (Veteran)
$50 Hosting Discount Helps Projects Needing Financing

bertboerland’s picture

bertboerland commented

or not, there seems to be more room for php over at ibm. let the sun go down on eclipse :-)

--
groets
bertb

--
groets
bert boerland

jadwigo’s picture

jadwigo commented

I just noticed that part two of the series is online for more than a week now.

It's less about drupal and more about the early stages of planning and designing a website.

---
My ego is here

NaX’s picture

NaX commented

I see part 3 and 4 are out.
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/ibm/osource/implement.html

You need to have an account to get to the tutorials. I created an account, it took 2 min.
Part 3 & 4 are detailed tutorials about how to setup your development environment in Windows and Linux with screen shots.

Both of the these are downloadable as pdf's. Maybe it would be a good idea for somebody to download them and make them downloadable from drupal.org. They could be very useful for newbie's.

yaph’s picture

yaph commented

It is a pitty that you need to register to read parts 3 and 4 and probably the upcoming parts. But posting the PDFs on drupal.org for download is clearly not a good idea or why do you think IBM requires users to register to read them?

--
ramiro.org

NaX’s picture

NaX commented

I am no expert about intellectual property laws but what is different to me downloading the files then emailing them to a friend, or putting it on our offices file server for other staff to read. The PDF security settings are low.

The PDF files can be accessed without needing to login as long as you know the url. If we were allowed to we could link to them.

Or user should just register.

Either way their is a lot of useful info their for newbie's and I cant wait to see what comes next.

yaph’s picture

yaph commented

I am not an expert on copyright either but I think they wouldn't require users to register if the wanted to make it available to the public. Does the PDF contain any info on copyright?

--
ramiro.org

bertboerland’s picture

bertboerland commented

in document 3 there are 48 mentionings of "copyright" by IBM... that is a hint. :-)

--
groets
bertb

--
groets
bert boerland

Anonymous’s picture

Anonymous (not verified) commented

Hey, parts 3 and 4 are developerWorks tutorials which is why you need to register for them. The upcoming articles in the series will be available without registration.

weitzman’s picture

weitzman commented

hi
good news! here is what we were told.
thanks,
louie

Because you are the authors, you can allow drupal.org to republish the tutorials after we (developerworks) have had them for 30 days. We require that they be published unchanged, and that the following attribution, with a hotlink back to developerWorks, be included:

By (Author's names goes here). First published by IBM at developerWorks (www.ibm.com/developerworks) IBM developerWorks. All rights retained by IBM and the author.

At some point in the future, our (developerworks) registration process will change so that, once someone registers, a second registration will not be required (late 2006 or early 2007, I beleive). After that time, I think reprinting will no longer be necessary.

sepeck’s picture

sepeck commented

If you send me a note through my contact form I can make sure they get uploaded/posted. Or alternatively you could author the handbook page itself and I could attach the pdf for you.

Looking through the third one now and it may be that I can now get eclispe running on my own system which would be pretty nice to play with.

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

greggles’s picture

greggles
he/him
Primary language English
Location Denver, Colorado, USA
commented

seriously - sometimes I get eclipse setup and I love it and then I move to a new machine or new environment or...and I spend a while getting it back to usable state. I guess I'll have to register and read that chapter.

--
Growing Venture Solutions
Drupal Implementation and Support in Denver, CO

--
Morris Animal Foundation

NaX’s picture

NaX commented

Part 5: Getting started with Drupal is up. No login required.

http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/ibm/osource/implement.html

elv’s picture

elv commented

I wish I had such a summary back in the time when I tried to understand Drupal's way. In one long –but very clear– page you get the big picture.
This could be a good insight for a "technical overview" page. in the handbook or the "about" section.

Hayakawa’s picture

Hayakawa commented

Thanks for this great article. in the past ibm has printer-friendly layout and pdf export of the article. now these two are gone. they were very useful...

sepeck’s picture

sepeck commented

The print this page is on the right hand sidee.

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

NaX’s picture

NaX commented

Part 6: Building a custom module in Drupal is out.

http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/ibm/osource/implement.html
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/ibm/library/i-osource6/

ofyMX’s picture

ofyMX commented

Hello!

I’m a newbie to Durpal and for the last couple days I read with big enthusiasm about the tutorials written by IBM about Durpal.

But for some reason, I'm unable to connect to the IBM developers works Site at http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/, not from my home nor form my work. I really don’t know why. So is there an other way to get those 9 tutorials?

Can somebody please email them to me, or is there a place where I can download them?

Your help will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
______________
Adolfo Salazar
asalazar@ilce.edu.mx
Mexico City

sepeck’s picture

sepeck commented

The link in the article gives you the first article which has a link to the second, etc.
Here's the direct link to the overview page.
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/ibm/osource/implement.html

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

ofyMX’s picture

ofyMX commented

Thanks for your fast response!

Is really strange, but I get an error message when I try to access the URL http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/ibm/osource/implement.html

I have tried form several starting points, but every time I try to get inside the IBM's developers work section, the error message is: Page not found.

The funny part is that I am able to access the Japanese IBM developers works Site at: http://www-06.ibm.com/jp/developerworks/library/i-osource5/index.shtml, but as you can imagine, I don’t understand a thing.

Probably –its just an hypothesis- the IBM site is restricted to IP addressees coming form Mexico.

Any help will be appreciated
_______________
Adolfo Salazar
asalazar@ilce.edu.mx
Mexico City

MacRonin’s picture

MacRonin commented

I just gave it a try and it worked for me. A more logical guess than IBM restricting Mexico would be some local blocking/filter software from your school/ISP

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