Recently I have had the pleasure of using the open source content management system called DotNetNuke. I basically use this as my primary personal website as it is very easy to use and administer and does not mean I need to hand code HTML every time I wish to update my website. It also has the advantage of being editable from anywhere I have an internet connection.

This new version is a vast improvement over the previous version I was using which was version 1.0.10. Notably this version has an integrated scheduler provider which allows for tasks to be run in the background at designated intervals. Since this is an open source system you have the advantage of seeing how this code is implemented, such a bonus! The scheduler provider I believe should be implemented in every website I develop simply because this allows for hands free administration of some of the more mundane tasks of keeping a website as fast and efficient as possible. The creators of this content management system also included their architecture reasoning in the DNNDocs which can be located at the same place you can find the source code for this system.

The advantages of using DotNetNuke in its current form is its open source and hence free nature which allows experienced developers to extend and modify the existing code base to suit their needs. Some may want to use this as a base for an even larger web based application. Also, since this is one of the most popular open source projects on the internet today the community support is outstanding. Also since this demonstrates some of the best practices of developing an n-tier web application any serious web developer can obtain valuable nuggets of information and insight by studying the code and the reasoning behind those decisions.

However, when considering this for a large corporation such as one in the S&P 500 I would give some serious thought about the disadvantages to any open source system. An open source system appeals to the masses and this does not necessarily coincide with the specific business requirements of a large corporation. These requirements most likely would consider Sarbanes Oxley regulations, regulations by national state boards of oversight and local regulations that demand a high amount of information security that this portal may or may not satisfy. So therefore you have to consider the costs of implementing such improvements on this system or any open source system in order to meet those specific business requirements.