Share
The Gartner 2012 Magic Quadrant report on social software has missed a serious open source contender in Drupal Commons social media platform, but has recognized its sister Drupal CMS in the content management system space. In the 2013 reports, Drupal Commons landed on the map.
Many people are not aware Commons refers to the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable earth. These resources are held in the commons - not owned privately and proprietary - they are “open”, and in the case of programming and development platforms, “open source code”. The resources held in commons can include everything from natural resources and common land, to software solutions and platforms.
Developed every day by thousands of open source programmers and developers across the world, Drupal has evolved an open source social media platform called Drupal Commons. With all the bells and whistles of the newer, cloud based social networks, Drupal Commons provides a viable option as a social platform - without the heavy licensing fees.
Strengths
Robust and comprehensive with, Drupal Commons is not “out of the box” and will need customization by a Drupal development team. While this may provide some up front costs, no exorbitant licensing fees making it possible to have the total cost of ownership more inexpensive than proprietary software. You can also create a very customized platform, built to do exactly as you envision for your social community solution.
Weaknesses
Drupal Commons cannot compete yet with enterprise solutions such as Jive on the integration of the Microsoft software, nor does it have any of the document management or versioning control capabilities. However, given the right requirements, it can be the perfect solution for a specific need for a social community and collaboration platform.
Mad Tip
Since you can customize this platform to your liking, proper discovery sessions, scope and requirements, and good user interface design is key to a successful deployment. You will need the support of a marketing technology company, who understands open source development, and will be able to advise if this solution will fit your requirements.
Google Apps gets introduced next in our intranet series.
