Joel et al,
Great looking chart. I like how the OpenACS features visually indicate context.
It might be useful to also make a common-format comparison chart based on that display style:
table showing
OpenACS and other solutions (column)
versus
generalized features (list).
OpenACS dotLRN Yahoo LAMP ...
website aolserver aolserver y!Site Apache
platform.. pg/oracle pg/oracle y!Groups(2) mySQL(1)
CRM
CMS
KM
rss sup. rss sup. my!yahoo ???
weblogger weblogger
OP
acs-content..
users
bulk userimport
from IMS files
remote auth
PAM support
LDAP support
1. see openacs/mySQL versus ACID compliant Databases
2. preset reports, incomplete, can export db, not changeable
The list could convey context, and of course the field labels would not be abbreviated as shown here.
The comparison values could indicate where to go for specific info. For OpenACS, values would most likely be package or service names/links. For something like Yahoo, the general service name could be substituted.
Using the common table format, developers can adapt the feature list (and thus the comparison) to specific markets or solutions.
The table could eventually be dynamically generated, where the user chooses the features they want to compare or chooses from a list of predetermined features based on market.