Hi,

From the Netherlands,

----- Original Message ----- From: "Jonathan" <admin@ur.nl> To: "Zope Mailinglist" <zope@zope.org> Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2001 12:43 AM Subject: [Zope] Zope Projects in NL/Europe?

Just wondering: are there any Zope projects are available in the Netherlands/Benelux/Europe?

What do you mean by 'available'?

We did one last year but they seem hard to find.

What do you mean by 'hard to find' ? Where did you look? I'ts a matter of analyzing your clients needs/wishes etc. and matching the outcome of this process with the right tools, platform etc. When in comes down to interactive, database driven web applications in combination with decentralized content management we think Zope is the best platform around (btw it's our firm believe that these kind of websites will be very much in demand, so there is money to be made). It's a matter of convincing the client. Basically your client has to find Zope with your aid.

Are there commercial projects available or is Zope mostly used on internal projects?

I guess you mean projects developed inhouse versus outhouse. It's my impression that most Zope projects are at this moment developed inhouse (BeNeLux). That doesn't mean that there isn't room for commercial enterprises. It has more to do with 'playing safe', and lack of creativity from the commercial perspective.

Is there any demand for Zope expertise around here?

You have to create the demand (based on ... see above).

Reason I'm asking is that I'd love to continue working with Zope, but it's hard to justify in a company focused on Microsoft and Oracle, especially if there is no money to be made.

I think there is (lots of) money to make, but if your company has no strategy for Zope (only a, short sighted, strategy based, only on the major brand names) you are going nowhere with your Zope expertise within your company. Btw, if you have Zope knowledge you know that Zope has no problems with Microsoft and Oracle.

I can learn Perl on company time and Linux is our internet server OS of choice, but JSP/Java and .NET (the latter is not that bad, uses SOAP/XML-RPC) is next if we don't find a use for our Zope expertise.

(Repeat myself) What did you do to find it? Btw Zope can be integrated with JSP/Java, SOAP/XML-RPC and Perl. My background, I''m co-president/owner of a Dutch based ICT consultancy firm (founded in 1987). Our strategy is now focussed on Zope webapplications based on our 'crystal ball' (content management is the keyword) and input from our clients. Besides that I'm one of the keymembers of a small team that developes webapplications, with Zope, for the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Leiden University. Part of this system is an advanced webbased learning system.

Thnx Jonathan

regards, Henny van der Linde

Hi Jonathan ! Jonathan wrote:

Hi all,

Just wondering: are there any Zope projects are available in the Netherlands/Benelux/Europe? We did one last year but they seem hard to find. Are there commercial projects available or is Zope mostly used on internal projects? Is there any demand for Zope expertise around here?

Find out yourself at the EuroZopeCon on the LinuxExpo in Amsterdam January 23-24 2001 ;-) http://zdp.zope.org/projects/eurozope/events/linuxexpo2001 BTW: EuroZope is an initiative to better support Zope in Europe. The main topic right now is Internationalization and planning the next Zope events. http://www.eurozope.org The purpose of EuroZope is to develop a central European Zope community that is not only a meeting and information point for European Zope developers, but also a useful contact source for press, exhibition staff, editors, magazines and other entities from Europe interested in Zope. The EuroZope members goal is to publicize Zope throughout Europe by organizing press releases, writing articles and organizing events. Best regards, Maik Röder

(Writing from the Netherlands)

Just wondering: are there any Zope projects are available in the Netherlands/Benelux/Europe? We did one last year but they seem hard to find. Are there commercial projects available or is Zope mostly used on internal projects? Is there any demand for Zope expertise around here?

From the (spontaneous) requests I have had over the last year about Zope expertise, I can assure you that there is plenty of demand for Zope expertise. The problem is mainly that it is harder to find (commercial) expertise than to have projects available. Zope not (yet) being such a widespread Web developing alternative, needs are less visible. We are using Zope in our institution and there is too much work for me to handle, but I have had a hard time finding developers who can help me out. I'm sure this applies to more institutions and companies in the Netherlands (and Belgium for that matter).

And, btw, not to be nitpicking, but how would people know you have Zope expertise? Is it in your company profile, are you on the Zope service provider page, have you offered your services somewhere visible. The second point is of course that you could also prove Zope to be a viable alternative over other web developing tasks, by just doing projects in Zope. Or are all you customers asking for applications in specific technologies rather than solutions with the highest quality/for the best price/in the shortest time possible?

Reason I'm asking is that I'd love to continue working with Zope, but it's hard to justify in a company focused on Microsoft and Oracle, especially if there is no money to be made. I can learn Perl on company time and Linux is our internet server OS of choice, but JSP/Java and .NET (the latter is not that bad, uses SOAP/XML-RPC) is next if we don't find a use for our Zope expertise.

I'd say: just do it and make yourself heard. You might be surprised. Rik