Digital Doha Summit - ICT Qatar and Open Source
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Transcript of Digital Doha Summit - ICT Qatar and Open Source
PIXELS WITH PURPOSE
Confessions of a Recovering Propriety Software User
June 2012
A web designer’s worst nightmare
Source: www.theoatmeal.com
Here it comes…
Source: www.theoatmeal.com
Source: www.theoatmeal.com
Where We Were • Proprietary CMS
developed in 2007 • Same CMS used
2007-2010 – we were stuck
• Expensive updates and upgrades
• Fewer developers able to work on the CMS
• Declining usability, accessibility
Source: Flickr, L.Marie
All that we wanted to be: • Leaders in ICT – setting
the trends in Qatar • Constituent focused –
user friendly and accessible
• Agile and flexible • Less reliant on
consultants – build in-house capacity
• BUT also secure and resilient
Source: Flickr, â–“â–’â–‘ TORLEY â–‘â–’â–“
The Solution: Open Source and Drupal
• No vendor lock-in • A larger pool of designers and
developers – and ones we could hire!
• Built-in features that were constantly being upgraded by the community
• Ability to quickly upgrade, modernize as web trends evolve
And of course it’s for the greater good! • Open source keeps knowledge and
innovation moving forward • A major contributor to the Arabic
developer community • ictQATAR is committed to growing
an open source developer community in Qatar
• AND supports digital openness in general
So here we are now…
And more open source sites too!
Reflections on our experience – we are reformed (mostly) • Overall, the migration to Drupal went fairly
smoothly • Very limited errors, “bugs” upon launch • User feedback has been very positive • Regular upgrades, tweaks, and modifications
since – without breaking the bank • In-house team leading many projects now • No security breaches or issues • Advances have been shared with the
community • AND we aren’t locked in (mostly)!
But of course there were some challenges…
• The Arabic developer community is not as developed for as other communities in both Drupal and WordPress
• Open Source can take more time – off-the-shelf is sometimes easier
• With a highly customized site, incumbent developer still has a leg up
Source: Flickr Bludgeoner86
Source: Flickr, marc falardeau