Review of open source content!

You need a content management system (CMS), but you don't know which application framework to choose. The software must be free and open source, with a web-based user interface. Perhaps your employers have already mentioned that they want to avoid committing to a proprietary, closed application. With all the choices available, it can be daunting to choose one.
Whether you want to build the next big social networking site or a personal weblog, there is a CMS for you. Rather than searching for the CMS par excellence, choose the solution that best fits your project's requirements.
This article provides an overview of five of the top open source software (OSS) solutions: CMS Made Simple, Drupal, Joomla!, WordPress, and XOOPS. I describe their differences and similarities — based on my personal experience — to help you choose.
The similarities
All five OSS applications are free and licensed under the GNU General Public License. Their server-side code is written in PHP, and they use MySQL as the database. And all five are operating system–independent.
Software bundles such as WAMP (Windows), MAMP (Macintosh), and LAMP (Linux) make it easy to install the set of components (usually Apache, MySQL, and PHP) that make up the web server infrastructure.
All five CMSs have:
Online communities that provide free support via forums
Developers who contribute modules to add new functionality
Human-readable and search engine–friendly URLs for search optimization
Web browser WYSIWYG interfaces for site maintenance
Themes and templates to update the page design
Translations and multilingual content integration
Syndication of site content in RSS/XML feeds
They can be used to create the following and more:
Blogs
Contact forms
Events calendars
Guest books
Image galleries
Online newsletters
Search engines
While these five CMSs have many similarities, each one also has unique benefits and limitations. The following sections describe each application and make comparisons based on my experience.

CMS Made Simple
CMS Made Simple and Drupal both include workflow engines for process management beyond basic approval of content. You can get up to speed much faster with CMS Made Simple, but Drupal has far more features (which you may or may not need).
I found that setting up a CMS Made Simple site was very straightforward, but not nearly as easy as using WordPress. Creating site navigation is easy, and you can quickly launch a simple site.
CMS Made Simple, Drupal, and WordPress all follow the W3C specification for XHTML compliance.
Theme templates enable you to easily update your site's layout, and modules extend functionality.
Unlike the other CMSs, CMS Made Simple does not offer support for creating the following features:
Forums/discussion boards
Tests/quizzes
Wiki sites
System-wide content versioning
E-mail verification (using an activation key)
On the support forums, there's a great deal of activity in the German language section, which creates a bit of a barrier for English-language speakers. The documentation is not as extensive as the other CMSs reviewed in this article, so accessing help in the forums is essential.Sample site: Russell Davis Architects

Drupal
Drupal is pronounced droo-puhl. (To hear the correct pronunciation, listen to the Drupal song.) This CMS won Packt Publishing's Overall 2007 Open Source Content Management System Award.
Drupal has extensive online documentation, supplemented with active forums, and Drupal.org is chock-full of instructions, such as the Drupal Cookbook, to help you get started.
I've found that Drupal is flexible and accessible, while being fairly easy to use as a powerful solution for a wide variety of projects. However, its vast feature set may be too much of a good thing if you are only planning to build a simple blog.
Unlike the other CMSs, Drupal offers some database replication for better scalability. And only Drupal supports NTLM authentication.
Drupal includes a PHPTemplate theme engine to create custom themes. PHP code snippets are used to define the look of the site, and are kept in a presentation layer — enabling designers to own the page layout without interacting with site functionality code.
After installing modules, the process of enabling, setting, and configuring permissions feels a bit redundant. Locating the areas to perform each of these tasks in the Administration menu can be challenging until you have done it a few times.
Drupal really shines in the way taxonomy and permissions can be assigned at a granular level. Rather than being limited to groups, individuals can each have their own access levels. And the level of categorization in Drupal is unlimited, so you can set up infinite views.
Drupal's global developer community participates enthusiastically and contributes new modules with add-on functionality at an amazing rate.
Sample site: FIEL

Joomla!
Joomla! is a forked evolution of Mambo. The differences between Joomla! and Mambo are subtle to the end user. Joomla!'s administration panel has been redesigned, but the primary difference is the large online community involved with Joomla! that is committed to the principles of open source development (there is a frenzy of activity on the Joomla! forums).
Developers create free extensions to add functionality, and these are available in the Joomla! extensions directory. It is worth noting that, for now, extensions that work with Mambo also work with Joomla! without requiring modifications, although this may change in future versions.
Joomla! supports e-commerce functionality, such as shopping carts, inventory tracking, and payment processing through third-party vendors. However, taxonomy is an area that could be improved because you are restricted to only a few levels. This may or may not affect your development — depending on the levels of categorization you need for your site.
Although I haven't experienced it myself, I have read that sites with high traffic report slower load times. I have also found the WYSIWYG editor to be less intuitive to use than the other CMSs I evaluated.
Sample site: ArtSessions.net

WordPress
Since 2003, WordPress has become the largest self-hosted blogging software in the world, visited by millions of people every day.
Due to its popularity and longevity, there are more themes available online for WordPress than for any other CMS I investigated. The ThemeViewer is a great way to find one to use for your site.
According to WeblogToolsCollection.com, 0.8% of the Internet is run by WordPress. They project that at the current growth rate that number could reach 2–2.5% in a few years.
There are many online resources, such as the very clear online documentation, the WordPress Podcast, and plug-ins you can download to extend functionality.
Some high-traffic sites report slow performance, but by installing the WP-Cache plug-in and doing some tweaking to the wp-config.php file, you can enable caching to help increase load times. Many online tutorials address this if you happen to run into this issue.
Sample site: Ford Motor Company

XOOPS
Pronounced zoops, XOOPS is very customizable for controlling the layout of content blocks. The modules, while not as numerous as some of the other CMSs, are easy to install. Future versions promise to add even more Web 2.0 functionality, which is exciting.
The official home of XOOPS has recently been relaunched, and you can visit the XOOPS Foundation site to get more information. Additionally, many modules are available at the XOOPS Addons repository.
Like Drupal, XOOPS has a template engine (named Smarty) to help you customize page design while keeping the presentation code separate from the functionality.
XOOPS and Drupal both offer the ability to display product information and can also manage inventory — making them good candidates for building e-commerce sites.
XOOPS is popular globally, and it is nice to see such a variety of translations for both the software and the user documentation. However, that can also be a disadvantage if you are an English speaker because there is less online support.
Sample site: Concrete Connections
Where to go from here
Drupal, Joomla!, and XOOPS are best for building an e-commerce site because all three offer:
Inventory management
Support for third-party payment processing mechanisms (such as PayPal)
Modules for shipping and sales tax calculators
Shopping cart functionality
If you are looking to build a single blog website that doesn't need all the bells and whistles — then I recommend WordPress. It's easy to use, has a huge collection of available themes, and is XHTML-compliant.
I tend to agree with Packt Publishing's award. I think Drupal is the best overall CMS available — based on its high level of customization, flexibility, scalability, taxonomy, SSL support, e-commerce functionality, and extremely enthusiastic user community that develops modules and provides technical advice and support.
I hope this has given you some sense of direction as you navigate the many options and determine the CMS that best suits your requirements.

Indian Political Foes File $100 Million Suit Over American Newspaper Ad!

Windsor Genova - AHN News Writer

New York, NY (AHN) - An affiliate of a political party in India has filed a $100 million libel suit in Manhattan against rival party supporters who criticized its leader, Sonia Gandhi, in a newspaper ad in October.

The Indian National Overseas Congress, composed of supporters of the Indian National Congress (INC), took issue with two supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party for placing a $65,000 ad in the New York Times during Gandhi's visit to New York City in 2007. The ad pointed out that the INC chair was not related to Mohandas Gandhi, who led India's independence from British rule.

At the time, Sonia Gandhi was attending the commemoration of her namesake's birthday at the United Nations in observance of the International Day of Non-Violence, a movement Mohandas Gandhi formed.

Sued were former law firm secretary Narain Kataria and retired insurance agent Arish Sahani. Their lawyer described the lawsuit as INC's attempt to silence its critics in the U.S.

Dr. Surinder Malhotra, head of the INC subsidiary, said the unprecedented suit has nothing to do with the party in India, according to NYSun.com.

Malicious software threatens internet economy!!

National economies and security interests face a growing threat from malicious software, says a damning report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Communities involved in fighting malware "offer essentially a fragmented local response to a global threat," says the report, which urges international cooperation to combat the danger.

The report cites evidence that around one in four personal computers in the US – or 59 million – is already infected with malware. A booming market in cyber attack software and services has also made attacks more sophisticated and cheaper to perform.

Day of the 'zombies'

Malware is commonly used to turn ordinary PCs into "zombie" computers, which can then be controlled by criminals over the internet without their legitimate owners' knowledge. These machines are used to send out roughly 80% of all spam and to attack commercial websites and other internet-linked systems with meaningless traffic as part of extortion schemes.

An army of remotely controlled PCs – known as a botnet – can now be rented for as little as as 33 cents per machine, far less that the actual cost of the hardware.

The largest botnets on record have comprised more than 1 million computers. While the number of machines corralled into botnets is increasing, the OECD found that botnets themselves are shrinking to avoid detection.

Rather than launching high-profile attacks to bring down a target, small botnets can subtly reduce the target's internet service over a prolonged period.

Most malware infections (93%) occur on home users' computers. However, OECD research suggests that this can have a knock-on effect on national industries reliant on online transactions such as banking. For example, malware may deter people from using the internet to access more efficient savings products.

A group of British banks put the cost of malware for 2006 at £33.5 million, 90% higher than in 2004 and growing. But such estimates do not include indirect costs such as losing the trust of consumers, the OECD points out.

International rescue

Thirty-eight countries around the world now have national bodies focused on computer security. But the OECD says international organisations and agreements are needed to properly measure the impact of malware attacks and counteract them.

Just weeks ago NATO opened its first "cyber defence centre". It is located in Estonia, which saw its entire internet service crippled by botnets in 2007 after a diplomatic row with Russia.

The full OECD report Malware: A security threat to the Internet economy is available online. Ministers from the OECD's 30 member nations will discuss malware later this month at a meeting on the internet economy.

Pappu Can't Dance salaa....

Aamir Khan is at it again. After making digs first at Amitabh Bachchan and then at Shah Rukh Khan on his blog (via a dog Shahrukh), his next target is Salman Khan. At a recent music sitting of his nephew Imraan's debut film, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Aamir and director Abbas Tyrewalla put together a hilarious song inspired by Salman.
Aamir Khan has not only been an intrinsic part in discussing every minute detail of his nephew's film but also played an important role in composing and writing the songs of the film. A source says, “Aamir has been meticulously planning and executing every aspect of his nephew's debut film with director Abbas Tyrewalla. He also roped in A R Rahman, the best name in the music industry to compose the music of this film.”
But Aamir seems to have more than just personal interests in the film's making. He didn't spare a chance to make personal digs at co-stars wherever possible.
Says a unit member from Aamir Khan Productions, “Recently, Aamir had a music sitting with Abbas Tyrewalla to discuss the concept of a particular song. Abbas had to come up with the lyrics as per Aamir's expectations. The song has a lot of attitude and spunk and is filmed on Imran and his gang of friends where they are addressing the song to Pappu, a burly rich guy in their college. It was hilarious to watch Aamir discuss the concept keeping Salman in mind and he also ended up saying, 'I hope Salman doesn't mind this song' at the music sitting.”
“Throughout the song's discussion, Aamir went all out to make fun of Salman Khan who is well-known for his muscles, penchant for wearing and gifting expensive watches, fast cars and bikes, his popularity with women, his peculiar accent, and his unique dance style,” adds the source.
Check out the song:
Hai muscular…
Very muscular
Hai popular…
Very popular
Hai muscular hai popularSpectacular! he's a bachelor
Pappu ki gaadi tez hai
Pappu kudiyon mein craze hai
Pappu ki aankhen light-blue
Pappu dikhta angrez hai
Rado ki ghadi haathon mein
Perfume Gucci wala… But Pappu can't dance, saala!
But Pappu can't dance, saala!
Haan Pappu naach nahin sakta!

Forbidden Kingdom: Jackie and Jet love fighting and this is only the first film!

The teaming up of a Jackie Chan and Jet Li had everyone in the martial arts community salivating and smacking their lips. Things got a bit apprehensive when it looked more and more like Forbidden Kingdom would turn into a family film. While I don't think that is too far off from accurate at least there is going to be some appropriate action scenes for film-geek parents who take their spawn to the theater.
Both Jackie Chan, 53, and Jet Li, 44, said their on-screen duels were the most enjoyable ones they had shot in more than a decade, reported Sina. Jackie Chan said, "Just one fight scene would take 12 days to shoot. Before a shoot, we would say to each other, let's be slower, slower. Once the fighting started, we couldn't control ourselves, we would fight faster and faster." Their duels went by in such a quick blur, the playback had to be set a a lower speed so the moves could be seen, said Jet Li. Even Yuen Wo Ping said that they were too fast.
When Todd wrote about Fearless he noted that Li was slowing down. He was fast, but not as fast as he has ever been. And that's fine, we understand aging and growing old. But perhaps this proves nothing can be hindered by sheer enthusiasm to work together and bringing your 'A' game. Even if it is an 'A-'. But for Yuen Wo Ping to say they're to fast? One word. DANG! Just don't end the movie with a goof reel. Follow the jump to read Jackie Chan's personal reflection about fighting with Jet after the jump.
Also, we can tell you that it slipped during a press conference yesterday that Forbidden Kingdom may be meant to be one of three films [haven't we learned anything about trilogies this summer?]. Yesterday, drector Rob Minkoff declined to confirm talk that the movie is the first of a trilogy. Li Bingbing gave the game away, however. Asked about her character, she said: "Can't tell too much. We have to shoot a sequel."

Adobe Acrobat now with Flash!

Adobe Systems launched a new version of its document sharing software Acrobat on Monday. This time it can package videos.
Acrobat allows users to package documents so they can be read across different hardware and operating systems.
Acrobat 9 comes with Adobe’s video-enabling software Flash. Users can include Flash-based videos when they create and share documents with PDF.

How H-1B Visa holder should handle a layoff in USA?

The INS law's contradictory interpretation at times has seen ripples of worries in the minds of people with technical jobs. This article tells you about the possible steps of action when you have been laid off.
A hand at understanding the law would help one visualize the true picture. The confusion originates from the regulation (8 C.F.R. ?214.2(h)(13)(I)(A)):
"A beneficiary shall be admitted to the United States for the validity period of the petition, plus a period of up to 10 days before the validity period begins and 10 days after the validity period ends. The beneficiary may not work except during the validity period of the petition."
The mentioned regulation has been interpreted as that a laid off worker can apply for a new job in ten days or else would be deported. But the truth is that the regulation is applicable only for those H-1B workers who have to leave the U.S., but does not affect the case of workers who change employers or are with non-immigrant status.
The laid off H-1B worker is allowed to request to change his status to some other non-immigrant category if his H-1B petition has not been revoked. This can be done even while he is seeking employment at other firms. The law does not define the time that a laid off H-1B worker may stay for while seeking a new job. INS officials suggest submitting the same within 30-60 days but those are mere suggestions, and have no correlation with the law.
The new employer of the worker submits an H-1B petition to the INS requesting a change of employers when the same happens. It is advisable to act wisely by asking the employer to submit the application without wasting a moment when an offer of employment is made.
The H-1B worker can begin work with the employer under AC-21, in accordance with the H-1B cap law enacted during October 2000, once the H-1B transfer petition has been submitted to the INS. The same can be approved or else, H-1B petition approved but the application for changing employer in US denied if the INS feels that the layoff period was a little extra long. Issue of a Notice of Approval that allows the worker to leave the U.S. and apply again, for a new H-1B visa from some other country follows the second case. Another scenario is when the old H-1B visa's expiry is still due. Then, the worker can travel abroad and return using the same H-1B visa and the actual Notice of Approval (form I-797) issued for the newer H-1B petition which was approved.
On failure to obtain another employment quickly, application may be filed and status changed from H-1B to either a business visitor (B-1) or a tourist (B-2) while the worker searches a job. On getting the job, the new employer can get the status changed to H-1B again.
The dilemma associated with the layoff law does not end with it and another special case exists for the laid off/terminated workers who are already beneficiaries of a visa petition for an approved employment. The new employer should submit an RIR labor certification and an EB visa petition for him so that the worker can use the previously approved priority date.
In case of a laid-off/terminated worker with an EAD, job loss does not affect the validity of the EAD and he can work for a new employer immediately but the employer, again, needs to submit the RIR labor certification along with a visa petition for him urgently. But the denial of the application for adjustment of status invalidates the EAD.
A key point to remember is that the applications to adjust the status of persons with allowed EB petitions take a few months for processing. But a new labor certification's and visa petition's approval might not be possible unless the adjudication of the application filed for adjusting the status. Then, the worker's employer should file another H-1B petition despite he still having an EAD. The same rules as when the worker?s H-1B petition was approved but change of employer application rejected holds in this case.
When the application to adjust the status is pending for more than 180 days before the lay off, the worker, if chooses a similar new job or occupation, may switch jobs without affecting his application for the green card.
This detailed write up should have cleared all the incorrect notions regarding the time at hand for a laid-off or terminated H-1B worker. So, the laid off worker can act on the following plan in such a situation.
? Apply for a status change to B1/B2 within 30 days of layoff to stay legal and back your application with an itinerary plan and financial proof in the form of bank statement to support your stay. The itinerary should disclose your intentions as to leave US when B1/B2 status ends. A letter from your lawyer mentioning the necessity to stay to manage your responsibilities (both financial and material ) before leaving should also be provided to support your application.
? Search a new employer and once found, ask him to follow the already mentioned details.
The second part of the plan of action is to hold a grip of yourself as you look for a new job. The search should be determined and disciplined and at times, also with a humorous sense. A few points to note are mentioned below.
? Update your resume regularly even when employed securely. Use verbs which symbolize action and keywords and mention all new skills gained.
? Display your skills in the form of material achievements for the employer. Example might be cost cutting by USD X through automation of delivery system to deposit directly.
? Do not fluff up the resume with experience of skills that you cannot defend or justify. The interview is a chance to prove your understanding of the industry and the implementation of specific processes and operations as desired by the to-be employer.
? Use networking to get referrals from friends in companies and extend your network beyond the employer by seeking contacts of recruiters and/or HR personnel. You become a known commodity to the company when a friend refers you in his working environment and you have a better opportunity to impress the employer.
? Develop new skills and add knowledge to the existing ones. Use the internet to know about newer skills in your field of work.
? Pray to God for being knowledgeable, clear and fluent during rounds of interviews instead of worrying in your cubicle.
? Make a good impression in the interview when selected. Do not just be professional but also personable. Recruiters prefer employees with good personality who can talk about various aspects of lives other than their technical skills. The length of your answers does not matter but be sure; they are meaningful and try asking sensible and relevant questions in the end.
? Avoid depression and tension and try elevating your mood with good company of friends and relatives who might have been avoided so far due to job demands or other deployment problems.
? If you want to move back to your country to use your skills and work closer to family and/or friends, consider doing that. You were here for moving ahead in career after completing your education; decide what you want to do in life.
Anyways, keep faith in God and hard work. The best will happen and fate would ensure success as long as it can last.

:Gus Taperman