Discussing on how Open Source software might still amount to similar customer lock-in as proprietary systems

Cnet has an interesting story Open source versus open standards discussing how Open Source software might still amount to similar customer lock-in as proprietary systems.

This is definitely an important consideration, especially in a field as fractured as Open Source CMS (there are at least 95 Open Source Content Management Systems). It is still impossible to convert your site, tools or workflow definitions between different Open Source CMSs despite efforts like Portable Site Information Project.

Each different CMS has its own target group and strong points. Requirements of websites may change as they (and their owner organizations) evolve, and so being able to replace the Content Management System would be beneficial.

If there were open standards that many Open Source CMSs implemented, it would be much easier for site developers to get started using a system, as they wouldn’t have to be afraid of getting stuck with their initial choices.

This is important consideration when we start talking about the Project Ragnaroek and supporting standards like WebDAV within the Midgard framework. If we support the open standards of our area, potential users are more eager to try our system out.