[Zope] [Newbie] Can Zope ...

[Smith Ray]

[Note: I assume posts can't be made using the egroups web post form?
I see the note that it is a remote list, but if posts never work
maybe a note specifically stating it is an archive only should be
displayed?]


Hi,

Yesterday I saw a demo of an Intranet package a company wants the company 
I work for to resell.  It looks like a nice little package but very 
expensive for the functionality available.

I'm sure Zope can be setup to do everything this can do but I want to ask 
how difficult it would be to create myself and if any current packages 
exist that have the same or similar functionality.

The features (or limitations) of the package I saw are:

* Runs on Windows NT/2000 only. (Zope can + many others)

* Uses MS IIS only (I believe Zope can use IIS + built in web server + 
others)

* Uses MS SQL Server (I believe Zope can + built in DB + others)

* Allows non technical people to create content plus add users / managers
etc without any HTML knowledge or knowledge outside of the package. 

* Has good security system allowing users to belong to groups which
"may" have different content. Also managers have profiles allowing
the restriction of content and actions performed.

* Has a news module with multiple classes of news.

* Has a basic calendar system.

* Has a basic messaging system.

* Has a basic knowledge base ... allows free format text to be entered 
and later searched. 

* Allows external documents to be loaded associated with a group where 
keywords can be manually entered. 
These documents can then be opened or downloaded if users have correct
permissions.

* Basically all content added can be added to specific groups, and if
you don't have access that that group you don't have access to that
content.

There are probably a few things I missed but you get the idea.

The cost thrown up in the air was in the order of $AUS20,000 for a 
3 year rental, per site!!!! (At the moment that is about $US35,000)
When you start talking dozens of sites you quickly start looking
for alternatives!

My initial thought was Zope, I knew it existed and assumed with
a good design and few months work a could produce similar results
with a fraction of the costs.

Okay, sorry for the long email ... my questions ...

Are there any "Intranet" type packages which have similar 
functionality to what I have quickly described?

If I had to build something like this myself would Zope be the tool 
of choice? (I'm assuming it would be since I'm on a Zope list!)

How long (rough estimate) would something like this take to develop 
for a Zope newbie?
(Assume say 10 viewable screens and 10-20 maintenance screens with 
5-30 fields per screen.  I have programming (Cobol, VB, etc), HTML, 
DB and analysis experience)

Thanks for reading so far and thanks for any responses.

Ray Smith