I haven't used IBM WebSphere Commerce Suite 4.x, but I've used a slightly earlier version - IBM Net.Commerce 3.1.1 for Windows NT.
- Tcl beats Net.Data (the macro language used by NC) by a mile
- NC doesn't have a bboard, chat, and other modules for online communities.
- NC's data model for e-commerce is more comprehensive
- NC also has user groups
- NC's security model is slower but much, much more secure. Each command (equivalent of a .tcl or .adp page) is checked for security permissions before being run.
- NC works with Oracle and DB2
- NC standard costs $6000, OpenACS costs $0.
Bottom line: for e-commerce, NC is still better. For everything else, go with OpenACS.
