BlackBox

So at work I’ve been using Ubuntu on my desktop as my primary computer. I have primarily been a Windows user at work (because I have been forced to) and an OS X user at home because I prefer it. At first I kinda liked it, at least a little better than Windows. Then I began to hate it for the following reasons:

• It works just like Windows (and looks almost like Windows)
• Except when it doesn’t – then it sucks because it doesn’t work in a predictable manner

Here are some key problems I’ve had with Ubuntu:

• It can never quite remember my monitor settings properly – every time I remove a monitor or want to switch a display it loses everything or goes extremely flakey
• We play Unreal here afterhours and the audio just “disappears” – if I futz with the monitor settings then I lose Audio, hunh? Reboot required to get audio back
• No common UI – dialog boxes behave differently, things just feel “off” depending on which program I’m using
• Katapult is a poor replacement for LaunchBar or QuickSilver (which started crashing repeatedly on me on the last update so switched to LaunchBar)
• Installing an application takes command-line work – blech

The are a few good things, but not enough for me to love it:

• Wow, a real terminal – but I have this in OS X
• Updates are painless – again I already have this on OS X
• It’s stable – again I already have this on OS X
• That’s about it – otherwise, eh

This isn’t to say I don’t use Linux, I use it for my server, but I can’t see using it as a desktop replacement, not by a long shot. In order to win me over they have to really be thinking out of the box and not just duplicating what Windows or OS X has done – which they really haven’t yet (yes I know about things like Compiz Fusion – but that isn’t the whole user experience that’s just one small part – yes I said small).

So, I’m using a G4 machine right now to VNC into my work machine for specific apps I can’t install (or don’t want to) and will be upgrading the laptop to either a MacBook or MacBook Pro in the next few months. Then I’ll be really happy.

I’ve been working on a project for a family member and need a good Content Management System for them to use. Here are my requirements:

• Easy to understand interface
• Generates URLs that are human readable – no blah.php?page_id=123 crap
• Easily supports internationalization as the site itself will need to be translated into multiple languages
• Preferrably Java (but open to Rails, and not really interested in PHP)
• Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to create and edit site templates

What I’ve looked at so far has been:

• Radiant CMS – too simple, with code embedded and no Rich Text editor that they won’t understand
• Magnolia – Waaaay too complex, nice for an enterprise solution but not for what they need it for

Just downloaded Liferay and will be taking a look at that, Daisy and JBoss Portal. Another suggestion made to me was to possibly use Contribute, which I think I’ll have them download and try out to see if it works for them (but then I’ll have to do the whole locale thing through Apache).

I’ve looked at the CMSes listed here.

• Jahia – ok, after relooking at it I may download it and try it out
• Magnolia – too complex for my needs
• InfoGlue – looks complex just like Magnolia
• Apache Lenya – had a very bad experience with this in the past and the interface looks just as awkward to use as it did before – pass
• Daisy – looks interesting
• MMBase – no online demo and I wasn’t wild about the screenshots I did see, passing for now

What I’ve found so far with alot of these (just through using their online demo) is that the interfaces are very complex. I don’t know if this is supposed to go along with their “Enterprise” tag or not, and of course a fair number of them tout their JSR-170, 168 compliance. Ok, JSR-168 might be important to know, but do I really care if they are a fully compliant Java Content Repository? Nah, not really, I just want it to work and have a usable interface. Some may care about that but to me it isn’t a selling point. I respect the CMSes who put up an online demo, it gives me a chance to play with it first to see if it’s even close to something I want, those that don’t I look for screenshots, and most likely move on anyways.