Comparing Modx with Sharepoint

Okay, I've been using Modx for several websites at my work since 2007. Mostly Evo and one Revo with a plan to upgrade them all to Revo. I love using Modx. I rarely find anything I can't do with it. I want our organisstion to continue using Modx in the future.

However....

Unfortunately some others are pushing Sharepoint 2010 to be the new platform to use in the future (they are very pro Microsoft). We currently use Sharepoint 2007 on our intranet which is a complex mess in my opinion (interestingly Sharepoint people blame its implementation rather than the product on failures).

I am compiling a list of pros, which I believe there are many. I would like to see what the wider community thinks - especially if you have worked with Sharepoint was well.

So, what pros would you consider Modx has over Sharepoint for website development?

Hi,

One could talk for hours about this subject and never find a meeting point.

This is a comparison more political than technical; economic policy, business policy, patent policy, in short if you used both platforms, you'll know they are different products, different environments and different languages .

On one side there is a solution aimed at creating a bridge for web application,with the products developed by the same company(20xx server, ASP, Silverlight, etc), making possible find their place in the era of the CMS.
 
And another solution aimed at providing a framework for professional web applications or simple web content management, without being a true framework application, and before all, without absolute dependence on the host system.

I think that puts the difference in developing and how it develops and if your customers decided on their business or are going to keep some kind of policy development.

There are many professional solutions that can be adapted to rotate very well on both platforms,
And in the both , proprietary systems and opensource systems, there is a huge investment of money and time,

You choose, with which business model you want to invest their resources.



Regards.

First off reiterate RTOSkit from above, this is a big investment usually either direction and may not be a good fit for either ModX or SharePoint depending on the overall business objectives.

That stated I've done several pitches for large fortune 100 companies that have been in the exact same position with selecting a tool. It's really not something to throw a blanket list out against until you fully vent all business requirements they are trying to achieve with the solution. That stated here is a quick list of what I'v found to be most compelling when talking SharePoint to Modx.

SharePoint

Cons:

• High hard cost incurred for licensing and support
• Higher operating budget for specialized staff
• Traditionally higher hardware cost
• Limited plug-in components and web parts
• Normally longer lead times and higher levels of effort to complete customization; impact depends on complexity of the SharePoint environment

Pros:

• Utilization of existing infrastructure
• Existing in-house infrastructure knowledge experts
• Built in support for business process workflow and document libraries
• Tier-3 environment supported with relatively lower effort
• Tight integration with AD (Active Directory)

ModX Revolution

Cons:

• May require additional procurement of hardware and software licensing
• Possible additional knowledge experts may need to be hired
• Open Source - {do some explaining on this as it's a double sided edge} open to external security risk since all code is open source. Concerns over life cycle of the open source business model including patching, support, etc.
• Out of the box limited support for business process work flow

Pros:

• Open Source - all the advantage that come with it. (extras, community, little to no hard cost for licensing, etc)
• Security - the use of xPDO to help harden
• Support for mixed environments. Can run on existing Windows IIS with the PHP module
• Easy to manage content and extras via Administrative interface
• Very flexible UI for full customization with lower effort
• Ability to purchase direct vendor support for complex and/or specialized support
• Traditionally lower operational budget for hardware resources

Those are a few that I can think of off hand, hope that helps get you started but make sure you do your home work on the actual business requirements as those are the best drivers and ultimate metrics to determine any projects overall success.

Cheers

Thanks guys. Yes it is someone comparing apples with oranges. Also take the political point.

Appreciate your in depth thoughts and time you have taken to respond.

MODX has proven to be remarkably secure and I don't know of any case in the last few years where a MODX site has been breached and the fault was in MODX.

I'm not familiar with Sharepoint, but the bottom line may be the extent to which Sharepoint has built-in connections to other MS products and the extent to which you need them. MODX will work with a Microsoft server, but it has no built-in support for connections to other MS products or authentication systems.



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