To DotNetNuke or not to DotNetNuke... <br>That is the question!
Aug
17
Written by:
8/17/2009 10:48 PM
If you read the boards or watch the tweets, you will see comments like “I hate DotNetNuke” and “Why would you NOT use DotNetNuke”. You find extremist, some polite and some not so polite, on both sides. To understand why we hear such disparagent remarks, we need to know what questions are being answered. For instance;
- Your background is LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySql, PHP)
- You have many years experience
- You have all the tools necessary to put together a Drupal site in no time at all
- Someone says, “I want this done in DotNetNuke” (which you have never seen)
- After 5 hours of trying to do something that normally takes you 5 minutes.
- Someone says “How do you like DotNetNuke? Isn’t it great?”
- You might answer… “I HATE DotNetNuke”
Obviously, you could turn this around to “hate Drupal” or many other software packages just as easily. In reality, the question being answered was NOT “Does DotNetNuke meet the business need?” but rather how much did you like working with something outside your core competency.
When evaluating DotNetNuke (DNN) or any software for that matter, the question that should be answered is “Does it fulfill or help fulfill the business requirements in the best/most cost effective manner?” I have heard people say that they ALWAYS use DNN for their projects. I am immediately reminded of the old warning/saying that “if the only tool you ever use is a hammer, then all your problems start to look like nails”. That warning out of the way, it is possible that someone might only accept projects that are a good fit for DNN or whatever tool set they may be using. There is nothing wrong with only accepting projects that fit your core competency; as long as every project does not look like the preverbal nail.
If a company came to me with a project, and part of the requirements were that the web application had to run on their in-house servers (LAMP based) and was to be maintained by their existing staff, I doubt that DotNetNuke would be high on the list as the web application framework of choice.
By the same token, what would be the response if the requirements emphasized most by the client were the ability for people to enroll, and for different users or classes of users be granted access to different sections of the site? For people familiar with DotNetNuke, they know that DNN’s membership, and roles based security would put it as a top runner, and could save the client hundreds of hours worth of development cost.
I want you to tell me (and my readers) what business requirements have tipped the scales for you. Please leave a comment and tell us what business requirements have caused you to choose or reject DotNetNuke!
2 comment(s) so far...
Re: To DotNetNuke or not to DotNetNuke... <br>That is the question!
This reminds me of an episode a couple of years back. I was invited to join in a tech meeting as DNN expert to evaluate whether project X would benefit. Diligently I explained that, IMHO, their project was a near perfect fit for it. They wanted to build a web app that would be used to power many sites (read: portals, portal templates etc), individual style of these sites was important (skinning), where security was important (users and roles), and where most of the complexity was in the app itself (in its data management). So from my perspective (and what I explained) is that you leverage the DNN platform to do the mundane tasks (not reinventing the wheel) and you focus on your own app (the choice to do project X in .net was made long before).
They decided not to adapt DNN for project X. Largely because they didn't know the API and were 'scared'. Another thing that frightened them was a layer of dependency (what if DNN ceases to exist). I bowed out of the project and let them get on with it (I don't want to be caught in a project where I risk nagging that it is sooo much easier in technology XYZ). A year later the project collapsed as they were still trying to program the portals, security, etc. The bottom line is: if something looks like it has already done most of what you need, then it's probably worth your time to dive in. If you're already on the .NET track, then the investment is not unsurmountable.
By Peter Donker on
8/18/2009 8:37 AM
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Re: To DotNetNuke or not to DotNetNuke... <br>That is the question!
Great post Darrell. I agree that people should have a couple tools in their bag so that they have some options when tackling a job. Even though I think DotNetNuke can handle lots of requirements, I also know that for some projects, other products might be a much better fit. One thing I would not do however, is follow the example of the company in Peter's response - rolling your own from scratch is almost always the wrong choice. With 100's of CMS or web frameworks available there is no reason to start from scratch.
By Joe Brinkman on
8/18/2009 10:33 AM
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