Open Source CMS vs. Proprietary Content Management Systems
northStudio's core belief is to develop affordable, robust and scalable web solutions that our clients can both own and manage.
Open Source code Drupal.org is supported by a world-wide community of developers. While resellers and developers of proprietary systems will often insist that you will own your web site, this is not the entire truth. Linux is perhaps the best example of open source which can be freely modified, used, and redistributed by anyone.
Instead of building an expensive web solution from scratch, or trying to tell you how you should run your business with an existing program, northStudio customizes open source software such as Drupal Content Management Systems to your specifications.
What northStudio does NOT do:
- resell 3rd party proprietary software systems.
- use proprietary software that .we have ourselves developed for our own web applications.
- use non-standardized programming languages
- use unnecessarily complex programming languages requiring specialist (harder to find and more expensive programmers).
- use programming languages requiring specialized hosting servers.
What northStudio DOES do:
- use only Open Source software for all of our CMS (Content Management Systems), and eCommerce site, including shopping carts.
- write code in PHP, JavaScript and Flash ActionScript.
- build MySQL Databases
- build search engine friendly CMS web sites
Questions to ask before you start:
- Will you own your web application?
- Are there any upfront and/or ongoing licensing fees?
- If your web developer is not using Open Source code, then are they a reseller, or did they themselves develop the software?
- What contingencies are in place should your original developer and/or reseller go out of business?
- Who outside of the people building your web site will be able to build onto the core project should you wish or need to go elsewhere?
- How much will upgrades cost?
- Will the web application work the way you want it to, or will you have to work the way the system is already engineered?
- Will your web site work on any standard hosting provider?
