[Typo3] Some feedback to TYPO3 marketeers

[Christoph Koehler]

Hello,

On Sat, 15 Oct 2005 09:54:23 -0500, Simon Hobbs <info at urbits.com> wrote:

> I have officially stopped pursuing TYPO3 as a CMS platform. The main  
> reason for my decision is nothing to do with TYPO3 itself, but that the  
> resources are substandard and in disarray. The second reason is that the  
> learning curve is too high, and installation too problematic. I don't  
> think any of you are ignorant of that (eg.  
> http://typo3.org/documentation/document-library/StartHere/ ).

It always depends how much time you are willing to invest. Typo3 does take  
a long time to learn, longer than for example Mambo or Drupal. I cannot  
speak for Drupal since I have never tried it, but I know T3 is more  
powerful than Mambo for sure, and my personal site, which is pretty small,  
didn't take very long to implement into Typo3 once I had the template  
build.

>  From what I have read about TYPO3, there are some great features which  
> I was looking forward to try. But I couldn't install TYPO3 _at all_ on  
> Linux OR Windows and this is a real problem for TYPO3 advocates. While I  
> waited  for help from the linux-installation list, I thought I would  
> compare my experience by installing a Drupal site - it took me 30  
> minutes. Thus Drupal became the first CMS system I installed.

I for one did not have any problems installing it on my hosts Linux  
servers or at home locally on Windows XP. I am sorry you had trouble with  
that; bugs happen, and I am sure the developers will gladly fix them.


> One gobsmacking thing for me was the hoopla concerning imagemagick. The  
> versioning issue is truly shocking. I should have been able to simply  
> install a single php file of "wrapper functions" appropriate to the  
> version of imagemagick I was running.

This is hardly Typo3's fault. You can use GraphicsMagick, with a more  
stable API; there are wrapper functions for the different IM versions, and  
you can configure all that in the install tool.

> But to be more general, there are other things about TYPO3 which make it  
>   difficult to market.
>
> The first of these things is the accessibility of expertise and  
> networking tools. The large majority of people using cms tools are  
> laypeople building small sites. Something like Drupal is always going to  
> be more accessible and more enjoyable. Just compare using a newsreader  
> with a beautiful forum like drupal.org.

I agree a forum would be easier to use than a newsreader for most people.  
While there isn't an official forum for T3, there are probably some  
unofficial ones (I know of a few German ones).

> Your response might be: that your target market is large companies. One  
> benefit is that T3 is an open-licenced solution with flexibility and  
> robustness. But none of that comes across to the average middle-manager  
> unless it is properly sold. You need well resourced developers who can  
> demonstrate the value of TYPO3. Some products sell themselves, but a CMS  
> is sold by people. So forget the "marketing strategy", if anyone has any  
> spare energy they should put it into helping other developers by  
> improving the tools and resources.

Being worked on as we speak!

> My final point about marketing image concerns Kasper's Korner. Kasper is  
> giving the community an image problem by imposing a "Moral Licence" on  
> the software (http://typo3.org/community/people/kaspers-korner/ ). In  
> the context of his faith, he himself is not God, so therefore he is in  
> no position to sit in judgement of what constitutes "proper" material  
> for a TYPO3 based website.

It is merely Kasper's wish (and this is by no means legally binding) that  
his product not be used for anything that goes against his beliefs. I  
think that is reasonable. And since they are his beliefs, I suppose he can  
specify what is and is not proper in his opinion. Again, this is not  
legally binding, so if you have a problem with his beliefs, don't regard  
them and do it anyway.

> Where I am from, people consider environmentalists to be "extremists",  
> so do i take it that Kasper believes that Jesus is some sort of  
> consumption loving capitalist? My emotional response to Kasper's Moral  
> Licence is very common amongst non-Christians, and I contend that  
> overall it puts people off TYPO3. Kasper should re-assess his position  
> and ask himself whether God wants him to alienate people, or rather  
> prefers him to influence through his actions as exemplified by Kasper's  
> Saviour.

I don't really understand how you come up with Jesus being a consumption  
loving capitalist. Maybe you could clarify?
As for reassessing his position, I don't know if he would. He probably  
believes that God will use his work for His purposes, so it doesn't matter  
much whether or not people are put off.
God wants Christians to profess Him before the world, and that He will  
bless that according to His will; in this context that might mean growth  
for Typo3, whether or not some or most people are turned off by his faith.
I am a Christian and became interested in Typo3 because Kasper is a  
Christian as well. I guess it works both ways.

I appreciate your comments, you have some good points! Most of those are  
known issues and being worked on especially in the following months. There  
is a new release planned for December this year that should fix the most  
annoying bugs, and the release after that will see many usability  
improvements. Check http://typo3.org/development/roadmap/ for a roadmap  
and some planned features.

Sincerely,

Christoph Koehler