I work for a non-profit association with 7,000+ members. We're currently in the process of evaluating our extranet and we'd like to take it to the next level of making it a more collaborative/interactive site.

For those of you who have worked with both XOOPS and WebSphere, is there anything that XOOPS can't do that WebSphere can?

I've read with interest the post started by Draven back in October and have also checked out the CMS Matrix.

Because we're a non-profit, money is always an issue and I know WebSphere doesn't come cheap. What I'm trying to determine is if WebSphere offers something that would compel our organization to spend that kind of money and choose it over Xoops.

I am not a programmer, so attempting to sift through this information on my own is pretty futile.

Any insight any of you could give me on this would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Kristine

Kristine, This would be a difficult question to answwer unless a user was familiar with both CMS feature sets, which I am not.

Unless someone here can make a comparrisson between the two, it's really up to you to define the features and functions that are important to you and the organisation, then acertain if XOOPS or Webspere supply the goods.

Why not post a feature requirements list here, then we can comment more easily

Richard

I just went through matrix cms comparrison list between XOOPS and webspere.

The feature list is out of date (at least foe XOOPS and uses 2.0.6 as the reference)

Here are some changes that I would pont out are incorrect on matrix CMS
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WebSpere EIP 8.1 compared to XOOPS 2.0.6

Help Desk / Bug Reporting Costs Extra No (yes, xhelp module)

Groupware Costs Extra No (possibly, classroom module, xtcal)

Extensible User Profiles Costs Extra No (probably incoming with 2.2?)

Email To Discussion Costs Extra No (planned for newbb2)

Online Help Yes No (yes, smartfaq is context sensitive)
-------------------------------------------------------
Here where the report says no and maybe out of date I have listed changes that might be interpreted as a 'yes'

Thank you very much for your responses Carnuke.

One of the big selling features that's being flogged is end-user customization. End users can edit the layout of their main portal page, add portlets (modules) and add themselves to groups.

Another feature is that portlets can be wired together. For example, if you click on a graphic of a map in one portlet, another portlet could spit out the sales figures for that particular geographic area.

Your point about coming up with a required features list is a good one. It's very easy to get caught up in all the whiz bang features, but when you're dealing with a hefty price tag and the limitations of a non-profit budget, I guess it becomes a matter of paring down what it is that we exactly need.

I would still love to hear any feedback on this issue from people who have used WebSphere.

Thanks again Carnuke!

Hello from down the street Kristine (I'm in the Big Smoke too). I don't know Websphere at all but so far I'd say you would need some customization of XOOPS to do what is stated so far. There is a shop in Toronto that does non-profit sites and programing. It is still money but I assume it is priced fairly.

Anyway, I wonder if there is a site somewhere running any kind of system that approximates what you are needing? That might effectively show off the requirements.