srl wrote:

Hi all---

I'm working on getting a sample install of Zope going at my office, mostly for demo purposes. Ideally, I'd like to do a proof-of-concept for a community portal-type site, which needs the following features:

-page personalization for users -RDF channel importing (for headlines) -threaded discussions -ideally, group-based scheduling/messageboards

I have Zope installed on a Solaris box. the only database I have installed at the moment is MS SQL Server 7.0, which I could talk to through ODBC.

-will Zope talk to SQL Server? if not, what free databases would you recommend?

I have fallen in love with PostgreSQL which I use for every Zope app that uses an SQL db. <CUT>

-What products should I look into for the tasks I need to do?

Have a look at the http://www.zope.org/Products/ page and sniff a little around there.

-Ideas on a plan of attack that'll break me into using Zope relatively painlessly?

Take the tours, read the tutorials to get basic stuff right, browse through ZDP at http://zdp.zope.org/, _do the examples_ and so on.

Also, has anyone put together a Zope Advocacy page or FAQ that I can use with my coworkers? We're a ColdFusion web shop, and I need heavy ammo to convince people to learn another language.

That's a good point there! A Zope Advocacy HowTo like the one for Linux would be a nice tool. The ditto for Linux somehow applicable here, I think. Perhaps it should be teamed up with a Zope List of Rounds (ZLoR or perhaps just ZLR). This should be for those (like me) that knows that Zope is The Right Thing to Do!, but are not yet able to say _alle_ the right things. Only drawback would be that we'd have people running around and saying things about Zope that they don't know why... exactly. <CUT> -- Best regards / Mvh., Steen Suder, sysadm kollegie6400.dk -|- OpenSource --- Sign of the time Scan-Aqua ADVARSEL WARNING http://www.uk.k64.dk/sfs/Scan-Aqua/