There’s a new kid on the block, who is set to shake up the Blog and CMS world in 2007.
Habari, a Swahili word that translates to ‘news’, is both an experiment in MOSS (Massively Open Source Software) and a fresh new look at blogging - think CMS meets WoW. Now, you may be thinking “great, another CMS, just what the world needs - when does the Web 2.0 hurting stop?!”, which, to be honest was my initial thought. But not for long.
Rather than being a fork1 of an existing blog or CMS software, Habari seeks to take advantage of modern PHP versions and the features they provide - from scratch. But that’s not it’s sole claim-to-fame.
Open platform, open community.
Habari is different - it seeks to be inclusive of those interested in either providing code, able to test, report and perhaps fix bugs, have a flair for design, or indeed pretty much any other assistance that can be provided. The key to this, is the ‘all voices heard’ approach, where many, many voices are encouraged to help improve the product.
Having been part of an open, inclusive group working on router firmware in the past, where any ideas are taken on board with the belief that anyone who has a valid idea, should be heard, I can vouch for how well it can work and how fulfilling it can be. It’s also conducive to a very fast development cycle, as free flowing ideas, fixes and code produces a lot of change in short order.
Sure, there is a core group of designers and coders, but they are not an elitist crew, or expecting to develop in a bubble. Voices such as Chris, Michael, Owen, Khaled and Skippy to name but a few, many of whom are well known in the wordpress community.
Drag racing with style.
And the rapid progression, despite it’s relative infancy is a clear sign that being open source, with ever increasing input from a growing community, has it’s advantages - it’s well worth keeping an eye on it. It’s early days and whilst Habari is already functional (if not somewhat basic) the rate at which new ideas, new code and bug squashing is occurring is simply breath taking.
Taking it to the next level.
Sounds interesting? Then please do drop by the home of Habari, check out the wiki, or visit #habari on freenode.net in your favourite IRC client, to contribute or simply see what the fuss is about.
- .. such as forking from wordpress, b2, etc (↩)
≡ This is a journal entry relating to the topics of communities, habari, internet, news.
Brendan Borlase is a Systems and Network Administrator living in Adelaide, Australia, having lived, worked and breathed Information Technology for over 12 years. Learn more.
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Jan 14th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
It’s great to see when people “get” Habari. From the beginning, it’s been about creating a positive community atmosphere around writing blog software.
The only thing more rewarding than people understanding what Habari is about is when they participate and find out that it’s all true.