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Thoughts on Graffiti vs WordPress
- Published
- Jan 04 2008
- Last Updated
- Feb 24 2008
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THIS POST NEEDS TO BE REDONE. You may read the rest of this post, but just know that the information is bad. I need to write a post after actually trying Graffiti, and giving a real analysis.
I saw Matt's post, Graffitti [sic] disses WordPress, and I thought it may have some merit. So I read it thinking it was going to be a WordPress alternative with better codebase using PHP.
This was not the case.
Here is a quick breakdown. Chart taken from ( http://ulyssesonline.com/ ).
Note: changed price of Graffiti to $99 because I think $199 was a typo, and added personal use.WordPress GraffitiCMS Product Since 2003, now version 2.3.2 Private Beta 1 Development Open Source (Free) Proprietary Platform PHP, Linux (Free) ASP.NET Database MySQL (Free) VistaDB, SQL Server User Base Millions of users A handful of users Themes Thousands of (Free) themes A handful of themes Installation 5 steps, 5 minutes 3 steps, 2 minutes Price $0 (Free) $0 for personal $99 for commercial It is pretty obvious who the winner is here. I don't have a bias towards WordPress, I personally dislike the underlying code. Also, I'm going to assume a couple of things:
- Graffiti has a better code-base, pretty sure it does.
- Graffiti has a faster install, I doubt it, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Even with those advantages, I still ask myself why the heck would you use Graffiti?
If I was forced to use IIS and .NET I would see Graffiti as a possible solution, but I would probably use WordPress anyway to remain portable.A quick quote from their website.
7. Stress-free and built by super-geeks
Graffiti CMS is built by Telligent the same folks behind Community Server. You know, that kick-ass community platform that companies like Microsoft and MySpace.com use? Community Server was one of the first robust multi-user blogging/community platforms available. We've got an 80+ person team that does nothing but eat, live, and breath communities and social software and more importantly help customers build and grow successful communities.
Plus, it takes them 80+ developers to work on... blog software? They must have some bad developers. I mean... what are they doing all day? Most likely twiddling their thumbs.
Furthermore, they helped with MySpace.com? Eewww, take a look at the source code MySpace generates, I think it speaks for itself, plus the user interface sucks. Now I know that most likely wasn't their fault, but why cite that as a reason to choose them over other blog/cms software? We all know MySpace blogging sucks.
The only reason I found Graffiti is they were using the keyword WordPress ( negatively ) to get attention, it worked, however I don't think this was the kind of attention they were looking for. I don't really care that they did it, as it is pretty common in advertising.
All in all, Telligent lacks some intelligence, and should consider moving their product to something more portable. In the end, they will probably get praised by people married to M$ and have money to burn, and I hope they do well. I think WordPress needs some competition, however I don't think this product offers any at the moment.
- 5 Comments
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Yea, you’re right, that point is not valid.
I still feel like it should not take that many to create blog software, but I can not talk as I have yet to made my own.
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dmike - yes they do. But those 30 developers are working on WordPress, bbpress, WordPress.com, Akismet, and Gravatars. Plus, because WordPress uses free, open source programming language and database backend (PHP + MySQL) anyone who has the desire to can be a WordPress developer. (I use XAMPP Lite and a WordPress installation on my USB flash drive to develop plugins and themes) This is part of why WordPress has such a strong community. The same cannot be said for Graffiti - any time you use proprietary tools you lose out on numbers of developers.
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You’re making the classic geek mistake of confusing user needs with your own technology bias.
The idea that open source vs. proprietary blah blah blah is an obvious win for Wordpress is ridiculous. I’m going to choose the app that meets my needs, and that’s my first priority over platform. I don’t care if it runs on methane - if it’s the right tool for the job, then that’s what matters.
You also didn’t do your homework. That’s another geek mistake. It would have taken only a few seconds to have learned that the reason the company employs 80+ people is that they work on quite a bit more than just Graffiti.
Not only that, but you somehow translated “80+ person team that does nothing but eat, live, and breath communities and social software” to “Plus, it takes them 80+ developers to work on… blog software?”
Note that Telligent’s quote doesn’t say anything about “80+ developers” - it says “80+ people.”
It takes far more than coders to run a software company. You ought to read a little more closely next time. All developers are people, but not all people are developers. It’s not a complicated thought process.
“All in all, Telligent lacks some intelligence, and should consider moving their product to something more portable.”
What…?
You say that they lack intelligence, yet you display zero ability to critique their product in a meaningful way - even *with* your personal bias. You didn’t research the product or the company - you picked up a couple bits of text and then misinterpreted them (as with the “80+ developers” confusion I mentioned above).
I found your post in a first page google result set. It’s sad that it has such a high ranking, as you’re doing nothing but confusing the issue.
“In the end, they will probably get praised by people married to M$ and have money to burn, and I hope they do well.”
Um. Again, you’re doing that idiotic technology vs. application needs comparison. I don’t know why geeks have such a hard time with this.
I’ve been using Telligent products for several years now. I like their stuff. They do a really good job, though I don’t expect you’d know that since you apparently have an aversion to learning.
I’m switching to Graffiti because I like the package. Yes, I love MS dev tools - I love .Net - but that’s not why I’m buying Graffiti. I’m buying it because it’s a great package, and the $99 pre-release purchase price is *nothing* given the quality of the software.
If by “money to burn” you’re referring to the $99, then I’m guessing you aren’t doing all that well in business. Not surprising - you’re a dev cliche. You’ve been spoon-fed your opinions on OSS and proprietary software. I know I keep bringing it up, but I just can’t comprehend what it must be like to have so little imagination as to think one piece of software is better than another because of the non-tech philosophy behind it.
You also don’t seem to care much for the platform here, but, again, had you done your research, you’d see that you don’t have to run it under Windows. Graffiti works under Mono as well, so you can run it on Linux, Solaris, OS X, and Unix systems.
I hate people who cruise around the web, stopping only to flame people, but I’ve had to make an exception in your case. You seriously are a douche.
“I think WordPress needs some competition, however I don’t think this product offers any at the moment.”
And your knowledge of Graffiti is obviously thorough enough that your pronouncement carries a lot of weight.
I’ve probably given you and your site much more thought than you gave to Telligent and Graffiti. Based on that heavy-duty thinking, I’ve determined that you’re retarded.
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@Rory: First, I’d like to thank you for your input. You have given more thought to this than I have.
I should have actually tried the software out before knocking it.
I think I’m obligated to do a follow up post on Graffiti and look at it from a more comprehensive view.I agree, my critique was very immature, I was really hoping Graffiti would be a WordPress killer, and I was really disappointed when I found it would not run in my current environment.
And my frustration only made me look like a moron who knows nothing of ASP.NET.
I have never heard of the project Mono.I will see if I can come up with a better comparison, otherwise this post is not fair.
In the meantime, I will put a huge disclaimer a the top, letting readers know this post bad.
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Automattic has something like 30 developers (Well, employees) plus all the volunteers who contribute code as well.