Fireside Chat I
May 8th 2008
with Seth Gottlieb

Agenda
• Presentation by Seth Gottlieb
• Facilitated discussions
• Core Tech
• Local Open Source
• CMS in a Webserviced era
• Standards

Core Tech I
• Dries, Bruno, Tom, Dieter, Seth
• Two topics discussed
• Are scripting languages ready for the enterprise?
• Cloud computing

CT 1 - Scripting languages
Java LAMP
• best programming language • PHP, Python, Perl, Ruby, ...
from a language design • better deployment options
perspective • lower hosting cost
• strength: strong typing • improved productivity
• not specifically web-
focussed - used for a lot of
other/different things

CT 1 - Cloud Computing
• Amazon S3/EC2, Google*., virtualized mass-
hosting
• Will be used first by smaller companies
• Unsure about adoption by larger ones
• Main issue: ownership (of data, of services)

Local Open Source I
• Marc, Dirk, Wim, Kris, Bruno
• Why do we believe money can be made of OS
• user wants to be independent
• “let’s work together”-spirit
• Issues with monetizing OS in Belgium
• corporate policies
• larger companies preferring ‘safe’ buying

Local Open Source I
• Clustering local OS initiatives: how?
• experience has not been successful so far
• too much (false) competition & everybody is busy
• possibilities
• joint communications
• joint sales(/projects)
• joint marketing
• local initiative: geeks-r-us
(contact Dirk Frigne @ DFC)

CMS in a Web-
Services World I
• Paul, Peter, Wouter,Vincent, Poldi
• Legal implications
• ownership of data
• longevity of services
• The technical issue: distributed asset management
• change of API: problem
• Main reason for use of Webservices = cost

Standards I
• Erik, Karel, Luc, Adriaan, Jef
• Possible areas of standardization
• skinning & templating
• content exchange
• The One Defining Template Language: no.
• due to connectedness with underlying CMS
functionality (=competitive advantage)
• Possible use of microformats?

Standards I
• Storage standardization
• again, heavily linked with CMS functionality
• One established standard: RSS/Atom
• for notifications

Core Tech II
• Wim, Dirk, Peter,Vincent, Karel
• A note about languages: possible middle-ground
between scripting and compiled approach = Groovy
• Hosting is an important criterium
• JS development needs a better toolchain
• Challenge from Sharepoint = Desktop Integration
• Get rid of up- and download cycle
• WebDAV
• Small local (Java?) app

Local Open Source II
• Paul, Seth, Poldi, Erik, Bruno, Tom
• Too much competition, too little collaboration
• stress for loosing business opportunity
• who gets which part of the budget
• OS misses out on accountability (no throat to
choke)
• Wrong vision on ‘free’
• Community events = opportunity?

CMS in a Web-
Services World II
• Bruno, Dieter, Kris, Dirk, Adriaan, Luc
• Amazon for hosting apps and content
• nobody does it
• missing SLA
• Other open/public APIs in use?
• what about mail?
• Security
• do you trust 3rd parties with your data
• do you trust your own IT?

Standards II
• Wouter, Dries, Dieter, Pascal, Marc
• Missing notable standard: CSS
• Revisited microformats
• CMS needs more microformats
• menu | navigation | breadcrumbs | page-layout
• 1st step up to semantic web
• need for a killer app for MF (!= Firefix toolbar)
• what about support in mobile devices ?

Standards II
• Cross-site/-CMS search (library standard Z3950-
something)
• Storage
• JCR: too much connection with/interpretation
within CMS
• shared import/export format seems more suitable

Afterglow
• Sidenote: GhentValley.be launched
• Should we set up a Google Group for this?
• New topics: your suggestions, please. Ours:
• Webapp frameworks
• Rails/Ruby vs Java vs PHP
• Concepts and methodology
• Building a business on OS: risks, benefits, howto
• Building a business tout-court