New OSCOM Interview
Here is the interview in English:
WebDevMagazine: Can you tell me ore about OSCOM. What is the organization aim?
OSCOM has two purposes, marketing and technical. On the marketing side, we aim to raise the public awareness in the availability and feasibility of Open Source Content Management Systems. This is what our first conferences focused on, and the reason why we maintain the CMS Matrix. On their own the different OSCMS projects do not have the weight required for reaching the mainstream users. However, with a central organization like OSCOM it is possible.
On the technical side we aim to improve the different Open Source CMSs, and get them to interoperate. We see that there are different phases of Content Management implementations, and at some of these phases a different CMS might be the optimal solution. Implementation of common standards makes it easier for users to switch It also reduces the need to waste effort by reinventing the wheel across all the projects.
The main activity on the technical side is arranging interoperability implementation events, Sprints, where people from different Open Source CMS projects come to implement some common standard or tool into their project.
To support this OSCOM also hosts some Open Source tool projects, the latest of these being the Kupu XHTML editor and the BXE XML editor. The criteria for hosting such projects under the OSCOM brand is that they must be useful across many or all CMS projects.
We also provide a news aggregation system focused on topics of Open Source CMS interest named Planet OSCOM.
WebDevMagazine: How can become a member of this organization and are you interested in covering new countries?
Members are selected from people participating actively in the OSCOM activities. The selection is done by the members of the association. To get involved with OSCOM, the easy first steps are:
WebDevMagazine: Is the Microsoft an enemy for you (OSCOM)
As the provider of a proprietary CMS system, they certainly are a competitor to all the Open Source Content Management System projects.
However, with the arrival of .Net and Web Services Microsoft also seems to be opening up to common standards and interoperability. If this trend continues, Microsoft could even become a de-facto partner of the OSCOM community.
WebDevMagazine: OSCOM meeting next year in Bulgaria, is this possible?
Well, we're certainly interested in finding good venues for the OSCOM Sprints and conferences. Eastern Europe could be a good place for such event, enabling us to tap into the large local Open Source developer community.
The key for arranging such an event would be to find a good local organizer partner, or arrange the OSCOM event as a track in an existing conference. This way we can keep the logistics at minimal and instead focus on putting together as good program as possible.
WebDevMagazine: Please tell me more about you (hobby, ...etc)
I've been working with the web since 1994, and for the last six years have been involved with the Midgard CMS project. In addition, I run my own Open Source consultancy company, Nemein.
My key to taking some time off the Internet is motorcycle traveling. We have a small group of friends doing some annual motorcycle adventures. Last summer we traveled in Western Russia and Estonia, and this summer's plan is to head to Black Sea and the Caucasus mountains. We maintain a website with photos and stories at www.routamc.org. I ride a British Triumph motorcycle
Updated 2004-04-26: Looks like the interview is now up on spisanie.com, but only for subscribers so far.
WebDevMagazine: Can you tell me ore about OSCOM. What is the organization aim?
OSCOM has two purposes, marketing and technical. On the marketing side, we aim to raise the public awareness in the availability and feasibility of Open Source Content Management Systems. This is what our first conferences focused on, and the reason why we maintain the CMS Matrix. On their own the different OSCMS projects do not have the weight required for reaching the mainstream users. However, with a central organization like OSCOM it is possible.
On the technical side we aim to improve the different Open Source CMSs, and get them to interoperate. We see that there are different phases of Content Management implementations, and at some of these phases a different CMS might be the optimal solution. Implementation of common standards makes it easier for users to switch It also reduces the need to waste effort by reinventing the wheel across all the projects.
The main activity on the technical side is arranging interoperability implementation events, Sprints, where people from different Open Source CMS projects come to implement some common standard or tool into their project.
To support this OSCOM also hosts some Open Source tool projects, the latest of these being the Kupu XHTML editor and the BXE XML editor. The criteria for hosting such projects under the OSCOM brand is that they must be useful across many or all CMS projects.
We also provide a news aggregation system focused on topics of Open Source CMS interest named Planet OSCOM.
WebDevMagazine: How can become a member of this organization and are you interested in covering new countries?
Members are selected from people participating actively in the OSCOM activities. The selection is done by the members of the association. To get involved with OSCOM, the easy first steps are:
- Subscribe the OSCOM mailing list
- Start providing an OSCOM topic RSS feed from your website for Planet OSCOM
- Participate in OSCOM events or projects
- If you work with an Open Source CMS project, start working on implementing some of the OSCOM-endorsed standards and tools
WebDevMagazine: Is the Microsoft an enemy for you (OSCOM)
As the provider of a proprietary CMS system, they certainly are a competitor to all the Open Source Content Management System projects.
However, with the arrival of .Net and Web Services Microsoft also seems to be opening up to common standards and interoperability. If this trend continues, Microsoft could even become a de-facto partner of the OSCOM community.
WebDevMagazine: OSCOM meeting next year in Bulgaria, is this possible?
Well, we're certainly interested in finding good venues for the OSCOM Sprints and conferences. Eastern Europe could be a good place for such event, enabling us to tap into the large local Open Source developer community.
The key for arranging such an event would be to find a good local organizer partner, or arrange the OSCOM event as a track in an existing conference. This way we can keep the logistics at minimal and instead focus on putting together as good program as possible.
WebDevMagazine: Please tell me more about you (hobby, ...etc)
I've been working with the web since 1994, and for the last six years have been involved with the Midgard CMS project. In addition, I run my own Open Source consultancy company, Nemein.
My key to taking some time off the Internet is motorcycle traveling. We have a small group of friends doing some annual motorcycle adventures. Last summer we traveled in Western Russia and Estonia, and this summer's plan is to head to Black Sea and the Caucasus mountains. We maintain a website with photos and stories at www.routamc.org. I ride a British Triumph motorcycle
Updated 2004-04-26: Looks like the interview is now up on spisanie.com, but only for subscribers so far.