What do we want to talk about in this section

When IT managers and developers set out to solve their technical problems, they usually proceed by solving their immediate needs. The website needs a forum? Great, let's take one of those open-source forums, and stick it on our website. Hmm, the forum is now pretty popular, but we want to add in an online store. Let's find some ecommerce software and stick it on the site.

 

_what is unique and positive about OpenACS?_

 

- Large, active and open community - One CORE with easy access to new modules (in contrast to PHP based solutions). - Sophisticated API for quick development of websites (formbuilder, database and permissions) - Many packages ready to go (read: Click install and it will download everything for you). - Prepackaged vertical solutions for specific markets: .LRN, .WRK - Proven to work reliably in enterprise scale websites. - Large diversity of uses (E-Commerce, CMS, Intranet, Courseware Management). - Community centric with a focus on easy interaction between users (RSS, Notifications, Jabber, Forums, Blogging, ETP (Homepages), File-Sharing, Group Calendar).

 

That's just what jumped my head at the moment. But for things like that it is better to brainstorm with more people in the room.

 

http://dotlrn.mit.edu/case-studies/

 

This method certainly works. But after building a number of sites this way, you begin to see problems with it. For example, the forums and ecommerce packages will have their own way of dealing with users and permissions on the site, and they won't interact with each other. You can't find out interesting information like if there's a correlation between participating in the forums and shipping on the ecommerce portion of the site.

 

OpenACS Describe how people typically do things: need this, create this, need this, create this... Describe how OpenACS makes things easier

Delegation / Permissions
User and group management
Laziness (it makes it easier)
Lots of documentation
-active and knowledegable community
-in continuous development
-flexible (ie. open source)
-high performance web server
-operates on free *nix's
-lots of prebuilt functionality
-TCL is easy
-APM package manager and modular organization

performance scalability (with technical reasons supporting it) from PhilG's book etc

 

economic scalability (low entry costs, price scales with project size (because of performance scalability and open source)

 

customability (freedom to modify as needed, and responsibile for results that go with it)

 

available resources (open-source communities, documentation) * templating system (including ad_form, tight integration with db_ procs) * many existing modules to play with * existing architecture that is a good point between being rigid and flexible from which to launch your own apps * package manager encourages feeding apps back to the community * commercial quality design and implementation

 

community collective behavior, on whole, consistent with long-term project vision, priorities, values

 

open-source (opportunity to contribute to something "big", opportunity to learn from competent quick-fixers and like minded long-term solution providers etc.).

 

My rant on #openacs:

 

[13:42] > We should set up groups of people who have access to ETP instances. If we have a good Wiki tool with ETP, we should be able to give out permissions liberally, without worrying about hacking too much (they won't be able to enter HTML). [13:43] > I think the lack of a secure way of delegating out ETP instances has been a huge hinderance. [13:44] > That will be a major win for websites, because you often want to delegate stuff out, but don't know the people you're delegating it to very well. I think this is a big win for OpenACS. [13:44] > For www.safe4all.org, for example, we'll use that heavily. It allows for delegation, and yet requires very little computer knowledge. No HTML, etc.. [13:45] > And since things are versioned, if someone is malicious, you just remove them from the system, roll back the changes, and you're ready to go. [13:45] <skaufman> that's great! [13:45] > Honestly, I think ETP Wiki on an OpenACS platform is about all you need for 70% of the sites out there. or more.

 

I first noticed ACS when a former colleague pointed me to the hilarious recruiting page of arsdigita: http://web.archive.org/web/20000510060828/www.arsdigita.com/pages/jobs/recruiting [1] (archived without the Ferrari photo unfortunately). From there I started reading philipps books, the bboards etc. - a typical route propably. I was working with java and php on developing web systems then, which tended to reinvent common concepts again and again, so I was easy to convince I guess.

 

The two concepts that drew me most to (Open)ACS, deserve to be emphasized again, although they have been mentioned already:

 

- Two-Tier Architecture - http://philip.greenspun.com/panda/databases-interfacing [2] - Reusable code

 

[1] http://web.archive.org/web/20000510060828/www.arsdigita.com/pages/jobs/recruiting [2] http://philip.greenspun.com/panda/databases-interfacing

 

Chris:

 

AOLServer was chosen because it has the scalability and built in parsing ability, etc, etc. AOLServer is not a forking server, allowing it to scale much easier, etc. AOLServer handles the traffic of many of the busiest sites on the internet.

 

Oracle was originally chosen, and later PostgreSQL because they are ACID-compliant databases with established track records of reliability and rock-solid performance.

 

OpenACS is a framework that runs on top of AOLServer and Oracle or PostgreSQL which allows you to pick and choose the toolkit components to develop a site solution for your business/school. The OpenACS package library includes packages to handle Press Releases, News Articles, Forum Capabilities with Notifications, Calendaring and Events management, etc. etc. Pick from many other packages to enable your site with a Bookshelf or Photo Album, etc.

 

A testament to the ability to use the OpenACS framework is the .LRN project which enables Universities and teaching institutions to support course management, e-learning, departmental and schoolwide collaboration, etc, etc.

 

OpenACS has the tools and capabilities to scale with your organization with its ever growing repository of additional packages. OpenACS is open source and operates with PostgreSQL, reducing your TCO. Because the framework encompasses many standard methods, developers can use defined APIs to handle tasks, dramatically reducing time to market on enhancements. (after a very very steep learning curve haha)

---

How is it different from a LAMP solution?

http://translate.openacs.org/

I think the first thing to realize about OpenACS is that it is not just a technology, it is a vibrant open-source community. The operative word here is community. You are coming into this community as a newbee, or a new person. The OpenACS folks are extremely helpful, more so than any other technical group I've seen. However, you should think about what your resources are for getting information.

The way communities work is very similar to the way a bank account works. You make deposits by doing things that are beneficial to the community, and you make withdrawals by doing things that take the time and energy of the community. The more helpful you are, the more people are going to be willing to help you out. If you have a pattern of being demanding and unhelpful, people aren't going to help you out as much. This isn't malicious, it's just the way people work in general.

What you have to offer?

First of all, let's look at what you have to offer the community. You're new, so you can't offer much in the way of technical knowledge. However, you do have things to offer you can trade for detailed technical help from more knowledgeable individuals:

• If there is no documentation for what you're trying to do, then the single most helpful thing you can do is write documenation as you learn. That's what I've done in my OpenACS articles. I use it both to keep track of what I've learned for my own reference, and as a way of sharing that with others. But it is also something I can trade for the time of more experienced developers. They know that if they help me out, I'll write up documentation for it, and they might not have to answer that question again.
• As you find bugs, you can file them in the OpenACS bug-tracker.
• If you have a particular project in mind, or something you're planning on creating, then building that project and sharing it with the community is good incentive for people to help you. They may be interested in what you're building.
• When a newer newbee asks a question you know the answer to, answer it!
• As a newcomer, you have a unique perspective to OpenACS. You can often see deficiencies and areas to improve that old-timers might not even notice. Feel free to bring them up as suggestions. Remember that the OpenACS community is a community, not a company. It isn't their responsibility to fix things for you, or make them better. But it is often in their self-interest to improve things, and they will. Flames won't get you anywhere, but thoughtful suggestions will.
• Even though you aren't proficient with OpenACS (yet), you may have other skills that are useful. For example, some people have UI design skills, others may have Linux administration skills, or a security background.

I write this not because you're going to have trouble getting help. On the contrary, I've seen people in the OpenACS community help out people that are being very demanding and troublesome. My main hope in writing this is to give newbees a guide to how to most effectively get information.