Free Collaboration and Content Management Platforms

Many of us have a large number of files that we like to keep and/or share with others at home or in the office.  Generally, you start out by sharing a folder from a computer, setting up a “logical” system of folders to contain your files, and setting the permissions for those files to be shared appropriately.  However, if you’re like most of the folks I’ve met, that folder soon becomes littered with old documents and/or the “logical” filing system suddenly becomes less-than-useful.  Perhaps you’ve always relied on the idea of “search” (either the built-in Windows search or an indexing application such as Google Desktop), but the search is taking too long to return any results.  If the idea of maintaining a shared folder full of random files and folders sounds like a hassle (or has already become one), you may want to look into a Content Management System (CMS). 

While there are countless CMS options (including some extremely pricey options), I’d like to highlight just a few of the freebies that you may want to consider.

• Windows Sharepoint Services:  A free suite of server-level tools that allow document libraries and collaboration, site templates (team site, document workspace, blog, wiki, etc), WYSIWYG editing, Calendars, Task Coordination, search, and a number of other features.  For more detail, consult Microsoft’s Sharepoint feature comparison.
• Alfresco Community Edition:  A free, open-source CMS that includes dashboards (team sites), document libraries, search, content creation tools, calendar, and a number of other features as well.  There is a great article at CMS Wire which takes a look at Alfresco as a Sharepoint “killer.”  Please note: I did see a number of postings about Alfresco being a difficult application to install!
• Drupal:  A free, open-source CMS that includes a number of features, with extendibility through a number of free add-in modules.  This one is fairly customizable (check out the feature list and module list), although it appears there is no easy integration with MS Office!
• Joomla:  A free, open-source CMS that also includes a laundry list of features (with extendibility via add-in modules called “extensions”).  This one is quite customizable as well, although I didn’t see any integration with MS Office readily available.
• Modx CMS: Another free, open-source CMS that includes a growing list of features (extendable via “extras”). 
• WordPress: A free, open-source CMS typically used as a blogging platform.  Also extendible with add-ins.

Here are a few good links to help you make the decision as to which CMS is right for you:

• Joomla and Drupal – Which one is right for you?  (Alledia)
• Drupal vs Joomla: Some simple Ideas (LinkFindBlog)
• CMS Comparison Matrix (CMS Matrix) – Note the insane number of available platforms out there!
• Revisiting Sharepoint versus WordPress (A Conservative Techie)
• Modx Content Management System Review (RenegadeZen)
• 13 Free CMS options for Web Design Professionals Reviewed (WebDistortion)

If you would like help deciding if a content management system would help at your home or business, feel free to Contact Me!

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