Mambo Vs. Drupal:

I’ve noticed a recent tsunami of interest from potential clients in content management systems. Often, there is a tendency among these clients to “shop around” the dozens of open-source content management packages. They go to the various websites, and look at product features, see who is using the systems, and treat picking an open source CMS as though it was a car. For them, it is like picking between a Mazda or Toyota. Unfortunately, this tendency is misguided. Picking a CMS is a lot more like picking a stock to invest in.

This distinction is crucial. And failure to make this distinction leads to a bad decision. I’ve yet to find a case where Mambo was a better choice than Drupal. It is not surprising that mambo is always the first choice of most customers who decided to do some shopping. Mambo knows how to market itself to the layman, Drupal’s website speaks to an educated elite.

Compare the first thing that a shopper sees when they visit the two sites:

Drupal: “Community Plumbing”

Lead text: “Equipped with a powerful blend of features, Drupal can support a variety of websites ranging from personal weblogs to large community-driven websites.”

Mambo: “Power in Simplicity”  

Lead text: “Mambo is one of the most powerful Open Source Content Management Systems on the planet. It is used all over the world for everything from simple websites to complex corporate applications. Mambo is easy to install, simple to manage, and reliable.”

The truth is that Mambo is bulky, badly optimized for search engines, and generally rigid and brittle to customized. Drupal, on the other hand, is perhaps the most search engine friendly CMS on the market. Its modular, flexible, its underlying design has been guided by a stellar philosophy. But, I only know that because I work with the things. Customers who do their shopping, on the other hand, have the word “plumbing” as part of their first impression of drupal.

Drupal chose a word that evokes images of ass-cracks, human waste, clogged toilets, bills from the plumber, and plungers. Other words and phrases, “blend of features” (are features like coffee?) “personal website”(read:not professional), “large community-driven websites”(read: large amounts of not professionals) are totally hurting the widespread adoption that drupal deserves. I mean seriously, compare those two first impressions, and it becomes no secret why customers always think mambo is a better choice

So, in short, be forewarned: don’t judge a CMS on its marketing pitch. All marketing is an attempt to cover up lies. In addition, Drupal… as a solid and fanatical supporter, I beg you: help me market your platform. Leave out words that evoke ass-cracks, and solid waste!