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It's tough to see the healthy path forward for Drupal. 10 years ago it filled an obvious need. But now that need is getting squeezed from both sides. On the low

It's tough to see the healthy path forward for Drupal. 10 years ago it filled an obvious need. But now that need is getting squeezed from both sides. On the low end, for a company that only needs a simple-to-moderate CMS, there is WordPress. But on the other side, where many complex modules are needed, think about how easier it is now to pull together a bunch of modules using one of the new services that automates microservices. Think of something like lsq.io. Suppose you need 19 modules, so you roll out 19 simple Node apps, each basically just some Node package, and then a service like lsq.io automates the orchestration and deployment of those 19 modules. Is that more difficult than Drupal? I would argue that in most cases it is easier. So what set of needs exists for which Drupal is the perfect answer? That set of needs is getting smaller all the time, as other options get better. "Easy to configure CMS" is still the best bet for Drupal. That is what it was originally known for. That was what let it win the competition with ExpressionEngine and Joomla. If Drupal focused on stability, they could claim to be the stablest answer for configurable CMSs. That is probably a niche it could hang on to for another 5 years. Beyond that... its tough to see where it goes after that, but at least that is something to hang on to.

ausjke 11y ago
Wordpress still remains to be a blog, not really a CMS per se
- zapt02 11y ago
  False. Plenty of large companies run their business on WordPress, not just "blogs". https://vip.wordpress.com/clients/ https://vip.wordpress.com/clients/
- joshmn 11y ago
  I'd argue that WordPress is used far more as a _web_ (not just content) management system than a blog. My idea of a blog is what blogger/blogspot provides. Your common WordPress config today has 5+ pages, maybe a store, maybe directory of employees (who don't even know what WP is), maybe manage subscription memberships, maybe running a flash arcade (so 2006, but you get the idea)... Yeah, WP has a core function of making a post, but it's evolved into 100x that, and that was the goal (probably in like 2008 they set out? I don't know). Did they accomplish it? I'd say so.
- dabernathy89 11y ago
  This is an extremely outdated view of WP.
snowwrestler 11y ago
Drupal is going after the enterprise content management market, and offers 3 benefits. 1) You can buy enterprise software support from Acquia. 2) It's relatively easy to find Drupal coding talent. 3) The community cares a lot about security. Talented developers will find custom solutions more enjoyable and efficient to create and operate. But a custom content application loses to Drupal on all 3 of the above points.
- lkrubner 11y ago
  What do you mean when you write "a custom content application loses to Drupal on all 3 of the above points"? Consider this: http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends?q=drupal%2C+node%2C+rails&l= http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends?q=drupal%2C+node%2C+rails&l= There is a lot of custom work in the Enterprise. It dwarfs any one CMS. Also, about #2 in particular, do you think it is hard to find Node talent or Rails talent? They both seem fairly abundant to me. Regarding #1, I'm sure you can recognize this as a double-edged sword: "You can buy enterprise software support from Acquia." That is the problem, the Enterprise support is associated with a single company. Unlike, say, Rails development, or especially Java development, where there are a zillion companies selling to the Enterprise. The problem for Drupal is in trying to find that space between "too big for off-the-shelf" and "too small for customized solution". It's a very narrow space.
  - snowwrestler 11y ago
    What I should have said above is that Drupal is a more narrowly defined product than Rails or Node or other frameworks. Drupal 8 is moving toward a "framework" approach, but it's still just a "web content management framework." So for the people who just need to manage web content, Drupal will have the advantages I list above. It's more a matter of being better fit for a particular purpose, than some inherent superiority of technology. For building software products in general, including in-house enterprise products, Node, Rails, and others will still be winners. But for managing web content, Drupal comes with enough functionality, security, and developer support out of the box that it will beat custom solutions a lot of the time.
- hunvreus 11y ago

ausjke 11y ago

Wordpress still remains to be a blog, not really a CMS per se

zapt02 11y ago
False. Plenty of large companies run their business on WordPress, not just "blogs". https://vip.wordpress.com/clients/ https://vip.wordpress.com/clients/
joshmn 11y ago
I'd argue that WordPress is used far more as a _web_ (not just content) management system than a blog. My idea of a blog is what blogger/blogspot provides. Your common WordPress config today has 5+ pages, maybe a store, maybe directory of employees (who don't even know what WP is), maybe manage subscription memberships, maybe running a flash arcade (so 2006, but you get the idea)... Yeah, WP has a core function of making a post, but it's evolved into 100x that, and that was the goal (probably in like 2008 they set out? I don't know). Did they accomplish it? I'd say so.
dabernathy89 11y ago
This is an extremely outdated view of WP.

snowwrestler 11y ago

Drupal is going after the enterprise content management market, and offers 3 benefits. 1) You can buy enterprise software support from Acquia. 2) It's relatively easy to find Drupal coding talent. 3) The community cares a lot about security. Talented developers will find custom solutions more enjoyable and efficient to create and operate. But a custom content application loses to Drupal on all 3 of the above points.

lkrubner 11y ago
What do you mean when you write "a custom content application loses to Drupal on all 3 of the above points"? Consider this: http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends?q=drupal%2C+node%2C+rails&l= http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends?q=drupal%2C+node%2C+rails&l= There is a lot of custom work in the Enterprise. It dwarfs any one CMS. Also, about #2 in particular, do you think it is hard to find Node talent or Rails talent? They both seem fairly abundant to me. Regarding #1, I'm sure you can recognize this as a double-edged sword: "You can buy enterprise software support from Acquia." That is the problem, the Enterprise support is associated with a single company. Unlike, say, Rails development, or especially Java development, where there are a zillion companies selling to the Enterprise. The problem for Drupal is in trying to find that space between "too big for off-the-shelf" and "too small for customized solution". It's a very narrow space.
- snowwrestler 11y ago
  What I should have said above is that Drupal is a more narrowly defined product than Rails or Node or other frameworks. Drupal 8 is moving toward a "framework" approach, but it's still just a "web content management framework." So for the people who just need to manage web content, Drupal will have the advantages I list above. It's more a matter of being better fit for a particular purpose, than some inherent superiority of technology. For building software products in general, including in-house enterprise products, Node, Rails, and others will still be winners. But for managing web content, Drupal comes with enough functionality, security, and developer support out of the box that it will beat custom solutions a lot of the time.
hunvreus 11y ago