Acquia : Drupal = Joomla : Mambo ?

decibel.places's picture

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Acquia's commercial brand of Drupal just came on my radar... (ok, so I'm a little slow)

I also checked Difference between Acquia and Drupal

Are you using/would you use Acquia-Drupal?

I am glad that Dries Buytaert is getting some ka-ching action, but it makes me nervous about the future of non-commercial Drupal...

Zaccaria's picture

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I have no idea what you are talking about...

decibel.places's picture

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Ok, a few years back, Mambo developers split from the project and released their own CMS: Joomla! (some still say they stole the code)

If you follow the links in the OP, you will see that Acquia is a "commercially-supported" release of Drupal, with Drupal's creator, Dries Buytaert, in a principal role.

Acquia aims to make Drupal easier to install and use, but I wonder if it is going to eventually eclipse the mainstream Drupal community?

[BTW: I contacted Acquia about contributing to the project Wink ]

Megan's picture

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I don't think that Acquia will have a harmful effect on Drupal at all. The rest of the project is too strong for that. I think it will have a positive effect in that it makes DP more attractive to people who are wary of open source.

They have: 32 posts

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drupal did not please me =(

decibel.places's picture

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HolyWarlock wrote:
drupal did not please me =(

Drupal is an awesome tool I use for the basis of about 80% of my work.

It is flexible, powerful, highly configurable, scalable and secure.

What's not to like?

If you're still not convinced, check out these case studies by major players, Sony Music, MTV-UK etc. (oh yeah, this forum too!)

Real mastery of Drupal requires PHP and CSS knowledge, JavaScript doesn't hurt, and some time learning the Drupal API is highly recommended too!

RTFVerterra's picture

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decibel.places wrote:
Real mastery of Drupal requires PHP and CSS knowledge, JavaScript doesn't hurt, and some time learning the Drupal API is highly recommended too!

I am also a Drupal user, but I am sad to hear this one, I don't have any knowledge of the two. I just learned Drupal by a trial and error approach, but I was able to build a website that is amazingly perfect for my purpose.

decibel.places's picture

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rtfverterra wrote:
just learned Drupal by a trial and error approach, but I was able to build a website that is amazingly perfect for my purpose.

That is great to hear! Laughing out loud

You are correct, it is possible to create and maintain a great web site with Drupal even if you are not a programmer.

CSS knowledge can help you customize the theme to dress the site.

PHP can help you extend the functions of certain modules (webform, workflow-ng [D5] / rules [D6]) and help you troubleshoot problems and conflicts.

Megan's picture

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Well, that's really only true if you want "real mastery". As you have found out, you can do a lot without programming knoweldge. That's what's wonderful about Drupal - you can put modules together to create a great site with lots of interactivity without programming a thing!

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You are mistaken. Acquia Drupal is a "Commercially Supported" release of Drupal, but it is not commercial software and is distributed freely under the GPL. It's not even a fork the Core code base is Drupal 6.x exactly; only the default profile is altered slightly to enable the Acquia Network modules, but these can be freely disabled if not desired.

decibel.places's picture

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Mourd wrote:
You are mistaken. Acquia Drupal is a "Commercially Supported" release of Drupal, but it is not commercial software and is distributed freely under the GPL.

I did not say Acquia is commercial software - I said Dries & co are monetizing Drupal by offering a "commercial" brand.

Mourd wrote:
It's not even a fork the Core code base is Drupal 6.x exactly; only the default profile is altered slightly to enable the Acquia Network modules, but these can be freely disabled if not desired.

I didn't say Acquia is a fork - but going down that road could conceivably lead to a fork, especially if some Acquia developers decide to split off in the future as the Joomla! crew left Mambo-

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Joined: Apr 2009

The social publishing landscape and Acquia's situation are very different than the other situation you referenced. Dries is very committed and crystal clear with the senior management team that we're going to develop in the open and work in concert with the community to move Drupal forward. We're all aligned with that philosophy. Our work with the community on D7 is evidence of that philosophy in action. We're working very hard and putting significant resources into being good open source citizens as we grow the company. Acquia can only exist within a vibrant developer community and within an expanding population of Drupal users. Sure, we're a business, but first and foremost we're a community member of the Drupal project.

The goal is to help grow the entire Drupal eco-system so there are more opportunities for Drupal shops, developers, end users, and Acquia all together. We think Acquia can play an important and complimentary role by providing the commercial presence and support (guaranteed SLAs, etc.) which must exist before certain types of commercial customers will ever consider using an open source application. We believe there are untapped not-so-adventurous customer segments that we can help unlock to create more opportunity for Drupal shops and developers at a time when many potential commercial customers are looking at lower cost options for launching or relaunching sites. If Acquia can play a role which helps Drupal become easier to install, use, deploy, scale, etc. under Dries' leadership, and if we can help raise awareness of Drupal as a business solution, then everybody wins.

This issue you raise is a common concern. Thanks for the opportunity to chime in.

Regards, 

Kent Gale
Sr. Director Customer Support
Acquia

MGadAllah's picture

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Megan wrote:
We have another thread about Acquia here:

http://www.webmaster-forums.net/web-programming-and-application-developm...

Although more about the impact it could have on the Drupal project.

Are you talking about using the Acquia free version, without their paid services? That might make sense if you need most of the modules they include. That would make it easier to install & maintain. Otherwise you would probably be better off using regular Drupal and just adding the modules you need.

Yes I've just downloaded the package and installed the website then disabled the Acquia Network Connector modules.

I am at work now but please may you explain if I should keep using this package or it is advised to roll back to the original drupal package?

Thanks for your time Smiling.

IT Overdose
Knowledge Has No Limits!

Megan's picture

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No, no, Dries Buyhert has been very clear that Acquia will not affect the status of the Drupal project. It's just a side business that offers certain benefits on top of the open source package.

MGadAllah's picture

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Actually one of the main reasons that I've moved from Joomla to Drupal was this issue, as many many components or modules for Joomla are commercials while this is not the same for Drupal so going through all this road is really not a good thing.

Do you think that it will happen?

IT Overdose
Knowledge Has No Limits!

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