Just stating the obvious to be certain that it is perceived in the right way:
1) I am not a core developer - although I am in weekly contact with at least one core dev or Herko
2) I do have a company and try to make a side-by-side living off developing modules, themes, customisations etc. for XOOPS sites

I am not against a contest and I am not against PR in a magazine

However, I do not feel that the contest should be directed at core developers for several reasons:

Basically you are asking for a customisation or adaption of XOOPS to accomodate your wants and needs - a service, which others pay for, I might add.

Involving the core developers as central persons is a bad move, because however appropriate the modifications might be, it will still mean that the current roadmap should be rethought and priorities changed. I have confidence in the XOOPS core dev team to come up with a sensible roadmap, not influenced by outside demands. Of course the core devs should have our (the users') needs and wants in mind, but not if this leads to half-thought out hacks and specific customisations to your needs.

What could be interesting is a direct comparison of CMS's as they are now + how their roadmap is. When you have "weeded out the bad seeds" it could be very interesting to have a group of people work on each CMS (different groups, I mean) to implement your changes both to accomodate you and in order to see the potential and extendability of each CMS - but this should be a task for volunteers/paid developers, not the core team, I think. Also because half of the work in accomodating wants and needs is not done in the core but from specific modules - an area, which lies outside of the core devs responsibility.

The worst-case scenario, I can imagine is that the core devs spend a lot of time pleasing you, ignoring or down-prioritising important developments because they are not needed in your project and then another CMS is chosen as the favoured CMS effectively resulting in at least half-wasted time and efforts from the core devs. THAT is what I do not want.

I'm slightly confused (no change there then :). I thought this was going to be an article covering the current states of OS CMSs, however it seems to be more of "I need a new site, I have a list of requirements, I could get it done free if I say it's a competition".

I think it's very unfair to ask core developers of any project to change/add features - especially for review purposes - you wouldn't be reviewing the actual product.

Use XOOPS for the magazine by all accounts, and if you don't have time to develop the stuff that you want then as has already been said, do what everyone else has to do and pay for some experts to implement it.

I apologise for getting the wrong end of the stick in the first place, I thought I was posting something potentially useful.

I am not interested in getting something for free, nor am I asking the core teams to design and build something in response to my requirements.

I am:

1/ Trying to educate potential consumers of open source CM systems about what options are available.

2/ Trying to pick a few canonical applications and show what CM system(s) might be best suited to that application.

3/ Trying to capture (1) and (2) in something that readers will find compelling and useful.

A magazine is one potential application with higher demands, say, than a blog. But I am sure there are other applications -- an e-commerce site? -- with higher requirements than a magazine.

And in my personal case, I too am trying to sort thru all of the options.

Martin

If that is the case, don't hesitate to ask about anything regarding XOOPS - we'll do our best to give useful answers.