About Alatar CMS

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With the huge array of CMS software out there, why write another one? Surely there are already CMS packages that have the right features.

It's really not the features that were the problem with most of the CMS packages I tried. The problems generally boiled down to one of three things.

• Ease of Use
  The vast majority of packages are not easy to figure out. Some features have odd names or are located in odd places. Sometimes this is because it is easier to put the feature there -- from a developer's standpoint, it is much simpler to work with a new feature if everything you need is in one place. More often, however, it is because the developer wanted to be different from some other product.
• Documentation
  I simply cannot fathom the number of packages that come with documentation only another developer could possibly understand, or with no documentation at all. Without a dramatic improvement in ease-of-use, documentation is absolutely critical to using the software. Open source projects in general are especially guilty of this, whether the project is a CMS or not.
• License Terms
  Most software packages are provided under restrictive licenses, which force you to accept things you don't want for free, or to pay exorbitant prices for things the developers don't want you to have. GPL-licensed open source software is the best-known example, as it implicitly requires you to make your own modifications to the software available under the same license. This is really two problems; the developers take the rather inflexible stance that they have a right to restrict the license however they like, and the users often don't realise that the license is in fact a legally binding contract.

What makes Alatar different, then, is a basic philosophy -- the idea that software should be easy to use, include complete documentation, and provide acceptable license terms to most users. (It is not possible to provide acceptable terms to everyone, as the GPL is considered clearly superior by some and totally unacceptable by others.)

The definition of "acceptable" license terms is a sticky question. In a purely economic sense, there are three reasons a developer feels he needs to be compensated for his work: because he has already invested a lot in the software, because he will invest more in the future, and because you will receive benefits from the software.

While a full examination of the economic implications is beyond the scope of this page, the idea that a developer naturally deserves compensation for his work is obviously spurious. Modern economics simply does not support the idea that one should pay more for a product that took weeks to build than for an identical project that took days. If the products are indeed identical, then so too are their values.

The best license terms for the user are the terms that maximise his benefits. These benefits are not merely the features of the software, but the user's ability to find and understand those features so they may be productively used. The best license terms for the developer are the terms that minimise his costs. These costs are not merely the time and effort necessary to build and maintain the software, but also the time and effort necessary to support the user.

Copyright 2004 Darklock Communications
Alatar is a trademark of Darklock Communications for its CMS software.
Darklock is a trademark of Darklock Communications.