“The Real Q: Internal or external development?”

Jon Udell wrote

>However, most sites run on a smaller scale. I have successfully used
>homegrown CMS's for years, based on nothing fancier than Perl, XML,
>and consistent habits of data management. There's definitely a market
>for lighter-weight implementations of what Vignette does. Zope, for
>example, sees a big opportunity there.

[SNIP]

>Every CMS/workflow situation is different, so there's a huge need for
>customized solutions. That means opportunities in this space for
>everybody: Zope, Manila, Conversant, and players yet to be named.

Jon,

First, thank you for taking the time to comment, I really appreciate it. It's clear that a number of the messages on this site are from Conversant users and protagonists, and it's helpful to have a third-party opinion set down for consideration (especially one from the author that inspired us as we wrote Conversant!).

Still, though, you left one question open, at least in my mind. If the entire issue were boiled down to a single question:

Should my small-to-medium-sized company use our on-staff resources to build our own Content Management System from scratch, or should we try to find something "prepackaged" that meets most of our needs and then customize it to get the last 15%?"

... what would your answer be? That's the real question being decided here.

I realize that there isn't a single answer that's write for everybody. Still, if anyone wants to try to answer that question, it's what I'm really looking for.

Seth