I don't know Amadeus or uPortal, but since you express some disgruntlement (which I share) over CMF, have you looked at Plone (http://www.plone.org/)? It's based on CMF, easy to install and fully usable "out of the box". --A.

-----Original Message----- From: zope-admin@zope.org [mailto:zope-admin@zope.org] On Behalf Of Kyler Laird Sent: Sunday, December 15, 2002 6:49 PM To: zope@zope.org Subject: [Zope] Does Zope stack up as a portal?

This is going to be a horribly-formed request, but I'm looking for some guidance on evaluating a product being pitched. The product is UNICON Academus. http://www.unicon.net/academus/products/overview.html

It's based on uPortal http://mis105.mis.udel.edu/ja-sig/uportal/ a "free, sharable portal under development by institutions of higher- education." UNICON's offerings appear to be closed and, at least for the authoring tool, MS Windows-only.

I want Free tools. uPortal is better than something like Blackboard, but it still has some severe limitations due to its licensing. I'm wondering if I can confidently say that Zope can readily perform the same functions.

I like using Zope for most everything these days, but every time I go to battle against CMF, I come away ready to continue using other methods for awhile. I suspect that CMF is what I would need to use to get uPortal/Academus-type functionality without starting from scratch.

So...any opinions? I'm looking for comments like "Zope can't touch Academus without a *lot* of work" or "Oh, yeah, just fight through CMF and you're almost there." Specifics would be great, but I'll be happy just to get some insight. (If there's something besides CMF that can handle this role, I'll be especially interested.)

Of course, I'd also be happy to receive offers to provide Academus-like functionality in Zope using Free software for a price on the order of that of Academus. (I don't know how much they charge yet, but I will soon.)

Thank you.

--kyler

_______________________________________________ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org http://lists.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - http://lists.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce http://lists.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )

Kyler, Just to add some additional thoughts on Zope... Prior to working with Zope/CMF I worked with three other Portal products: Plumtree, Epicentric, and Intraspect. Each of these were more usable out of the box, but a lot less flexible than Zope/CMF and therefore less usable in the long term. I would pick Zope/CMF over any of the other products now that I have made a moderate ascent of the learning curve. One thing to keep in mind about CMF is that what you get out of the box is essentially a large example, IMHO. When we set out to build a portal on top of CMF, the last thing I wanted to do was retrofit the existing skins with a new look and new functionality. It is better to understand the architecture of CMF and then build skins that utilize that toolset. Plone is definitely an alternative as are some of the others you have seen mentioned in this thread. But if you want to use CMF, first understand the underlying tools and what they help you accomplish -- then build your portal. Another comment on the other products: Yes, they are more usable out of the box. But by the time we were done gathering requirements for a portal based on any of these products, we were left with a massive customization job anyway. Because of this, I'd much rather begin with a product that has flexibility in mind than a product that offers quick implementation at the expense of long-term flexibility. Kevin -----Original Message----- From: zope-admin@zope.org [mailto:zope-admin@zope.org]On Behalf Of Kyler Laird Sent: Sunday, December 15, 2002 12:49 PM To: zope@zope.org Subject: [Zope] Does Zope stack up as a portal? This is going to be a horribly-formed request, but I'm looking for some guidance on evaluating a product being pitched. The product is UNICON Academus. http://www.unicon.net/academus/products/overview.html It's based on uPortal http://mis105.mis.udel.edu/ja-sig/uportal/ a "free, sharable portal under development by institutions of higher- education." UNICON's offerings appear to be closed and, at least for the authoring tool, MS Windows-only. I want Free tools. uPortal is better than something like Blackboard, but it still has some severe limitations due to its licensing. I'm wondering if I can confidently say that Zope can readily perform the same functions. I like using Zope for most everything these days, but every time I go to battle against CMF, I come away ready to continue using other methods for awhile. I suspect that CMF is what I would need to use to get uPortal/Academus-type functionality without starting from scratch. So...any opinions? I'm looking for comments like "Zope can't touch Academus without a *lot* of work" or "Oh, yeah, just fight through CMF and you're almost there." Specifics would be great, but I'll be happy just to get some insight. (If there's something besides CMF that can handle this role, I'll be especially interested.) Of course, I'd also be happy to receive offers to provide Academus-like functionality in Zope using Free software for a price on the order of that of Academus. (I don't know how much they charge yet, but I will soon.) Thank you. --kyler _______________________________________________ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org http://lists.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - http://lists.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce http://lists.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )