[Pydotorg-redesign] Re: [marketing-python] Can Python compete with Visual Basic?

[Skip Montanaro]

    >> There are many other Python-based content management tools out there
    >> and most, if not all of them are newer than Zope.

    Dylan> But are they newer *and* more useful than Zope?  

I should have expanded on my statement.  I suspect one reason there are
other tools out there which came after Zope was because there was some itch
Zope didn't scratch for them.  That itch may have been something as simple
as missing functionality or something not casually obvious, like not being
about to wrap one's head around all that is Zope.  (There's that Zen thing
again.)

    >> If Zope was a true one-size-fits-all content management system I
    >> doubt these other options would have popped up.

    Dylan> I wonder.  Hanging out on c.l.python, I sense a real reluctance
    Dylan> to support Zope.  I don't know what the history is there, but
    Dylan> something seems to be muddying the waters besides technical
    Dylan> considerations.

    Dylan> Products like Twisted may overlap (some) with Zope, but serve an
    Dylan> obviously different set of needs.  It makes sense that both
    Dylan> Twisted and Zope exist. I'm not sure at makes sense that we have
    Dylan> so many different templating systems.  :-)

Ask the authors.  I suspect Zope's sheer size is very off putting.  Zope is
roughly half the size of Python (comparing Python 2.3 and Zope 2.6.0), and
much of Python's heft is because of its excellent documentation, while the
Zope distribution contains very little standalone documentation.  That can
be a very big barrier.

Skip