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Hello bhw_webmaste, welcome to xoops!
I've recently installed wordpress and let me start by saying it's a great system. Woks flawlessly from the start and gives you a great "out of the box" experience. It also has a high level of integration between all it's components, meaning you don't have to worry about compatibility.
That said, what's the difference to xoops?
Xoops is highly modular. While in wordpress you basically have 1 "content module", with XOOPS you could have 2,3 or as many as you like. This would allow you to separate content according to your own standards.
This also means you can have XOOPS do all sorts of interesting stuff, such as being a newsgroup reader and a lot more, just browse through the modules section to get an ideia.
Another big advantage is it's permission system. With XOOPS you can create groups, then assign then items theye are allowed to manipulate. For example. You can install a download module, create download categories then assign XOOPS groups to them. This means certain users can see a category while others can not. This permission system is highly flexible. You can add users to 1,2 or as many groups as you like.
With this modular design and high level of flexibility also brings an initial learning curve, terms such as, themes and templates are familiar to you, but we also have blocks and modules (you call them widgets).