[Zope] Barriers to Zope popularity

[Loren Stafford]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: zope-admin@zope.org [mailto:zope-admin@zope.org]On Behalf Of Brian
> Lauer
> Sent: Thursday, September 23, 1999 12:11
> To: zope@zope.org; zope-dev@zope.org
> Subject: [Zope] Re: [Zope-dev] [Zope] Barriers to Zope popularity
>
>
> From my experience of trying to intrest co-workers in
> Zope there were 2 problems.
>
> 1. Python - they don't know python, but might be
> willing to learn if it wasn't for 2...
>
> 2. ISP/Web Hosting companies don't sopport Pyhton as a
> cgi enviroment or Zope.
>
> Very few, from my experience, want to switch ISP/Web
> Hosting for something they have not tried in a new
> language. Don't take these comments to mean that I
> don't like Zope I love it but can't justify going with
> an untrusted ISP/Web Host. I don't know the solution
> to this one. Any help would be appreciated. Maybe what
> effect adding Zope, along with Apache, would have for
> the ISP/Web Host. Technicaly do they have anything to
> worry about or is they general lack of python
> experience the only factor. Any ideas???
>

When I got a new job and wanted to convert the new company's website to
Zope, I ran into the same ISP resistance. It wasn't that they wouldn't in
principal help with the Zope installation, it's that they wouldn't do it for
just one user. They did help with the Apache rewrite rule. They did permit
me to compile Python and Zope in my account, but they wouldn't do it for me.
In the end the difficulty doing sysadmin work (which I don't know much
about) on an FTP-only account for a foreign OS convinced me that it wasn't
worth the effort.

So I moved the web site to a Zope ISP (http://www.codeit.com). I agonized
about moving the site for about a week. CodeIt is not even nearby.  But in
the end, the move was easy, CodeIt has supported me well enough, and there
isn't much difference operating a remote site compared to a nearby one. I
should have moved the site sooner.

Still, I think it's a good idea to try to convince the ISP, so that the next
time someone talks to them about Zope, they will realize that now they have
two potential Zope users.

The original ISP cooperated with a smooth DNS change, so they know we've
gone and they know why.