As the number of open source content management products on the market has grown, choosing a system has become more difficult for discerning IT and marketing shops. Much of the product confusion stems from the various open source licensing and business models out in the market; but once a company chooses a product which aligns with its licensing needs, there are other things to consider.

Companies should think about what systems need to be integrated with the content management system. "Does your organization speak LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP)? Or is it a Microsoft-based organization? Or is it a fully Java-based organization?" asked Kian Gould, CEO of open source consultancy AOE Media during a Dec. 2 session at content management conference Gilbane 2010, in Boston.

"That's, of course, something that's relevant, although from our experience it's changing more and more. Even organizations that are hardcore Microsoft shops are experienced now with running Linux environments, so a LAMP system is not problem for them and the dual infrastructure is becoming more and more common," Gould added.

Another major factor in choosing an open source CMS is assessing the health of the community. There are risks, associated with open source adoption in that it's not always predictable what direction an open source project is going. There may not be a clear roadmap, or any roadmap at all.

Generally, these systems have large, accessible communities around them. Companies should go to the system's discussion forum, post a question and see how long it takes for a response to be provided, recommended Shaun Walker, co-founder and chief technology officer at open source content management vendor DotNetNuke.

"[Consider:] Are there a lot of extensions that are being actively maintained or is the number of extensions staying the same or actually declining? That might be a sign that a community is not very healthy. That might not be the best option for you," explained Walker.

There are many systems out there but very few manage to get to the critical adoption level where they can grow a large community around them that will provide the support and stability one would want for an extensible, long-term CMS.

And if there's any doubt about the scale and capabilities of an open source CMS, "Look for high-profile reference users who are utilizing the technology in a productive environment, where it's significantly scaled out and it's handling a lot of traffic. If you can't find any, you might be taking a risk by thinking you can utilize that open source CMS in that kind of environment," said Walker.

The open source software selection process isn't getting any easier but considering the common stumbling blocks of licensing, integration, user community and scalability, companies will be better poised to find their perfect match. 

For more:
- read part one of this series
- see the Open Source Initiative's information page on licensing
- see Shaun Walker's presentation (.ppt) from Gilbane 2010

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