CMS File Sharing

OK, the nephews have gone back to Vermont and things are settling into their normal routine here in NM. It was neat that Peter (age 16) was doing so well with his Python coding. It was really cool to introduce him to Plone. He immediately grokked how Python, Zope, and Plone open doors for online capability.

Back to Plone metrics, I've been meaning to discuss an observation I made earlier this month: who's searching for what Plone-wise. Turns out, just slightly over 20% of those who visit this blog via a Google search do so by searching for some version of "file sharing." Whether its "filesharing," "cms file sharing," "file sharing cms," "simple file sharing cms," or any of several dozen variations, its obvious that people are looking for content management solutions that help them with the basic problem of file sharing. At my day job we have several portals that do just that because Computer Security closed down all anonymous FTP. There simply isn't any easy way for projects to share their content with those outside the lab. Plone is answering that need.

Coincidentally, yesterday we met with a very senior staff member who needed a site moved off of its internal SharePoint server and placed externally on Plone. I'm always amazed when I look at a SharePoint site how limited they are. Turns out there are 1104 of them internally at Sandia. These sites certainly permit file uploads and downloads, discussions and commenting, and so on, yet they don't seem capable of fostering the growth of community--they lack personality. I'm sure there are experts out there that can make SharePoint sing, but I've yet to find the likes of plone.net/sites where the best are showcased.

Also yesterday, our neighborhood association had its summer meeting and they voted funding to upgrade our simple, no-frills Plone portal. I'll be casting about for a good deal on domain name plus professional hosting. Right now Web Faction, Nidelven, and Openia are looking good, but I'm open to suggestions and even proposals.