Open source CMS projects like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla! provide web publishing tools that give users the freedom to modify the system and own their data in ways that proprietary systems don’t offer. BC Gurus, a consultancy specializing in Adobe’s Business Catalyst (a hosted turnkey web publishing product), “took aim” at Open Source CMS’s, kicking off a proposed series of articles with a video which upset many within the communities for those projects.
The original article, titled Business Catalyst Partners Take Aim at Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress, includes a video which shows two BC Gurus partners at a firing range, shooting guns at targets with Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress logos on them. It seems pretty obvious that they intended the video to be controversial, an attempt to create virality. They knew that “something that you might believe to be entirely ridiculous” would be passed around and drive up page views. And that worked — sort of. Apparently the response was strongly negative enough that BC Gurus have taken down the original video and replaced it with a message which states:
The right people, called the right people, who called the right people and told us to take the video down.
We respect ALL of those people, so this video is indefinitely offline.
I am currently out of the office on vacation, but will respond to all complaints next week.
Well, then! When you whack the hornet’s nest with a stick, sometimes you get stung. Not only did the link get passed around, but they garnered some really good responses, particularly from people at Acquia, which is a commercial arm for Drupal, much as Automattic is for WordPress. They made a blog post and response video which speaks for all three communities. Speaking for myself, I approve of this message:
It would have been really easy to respond in-kind with a video of somebody using a BC Gurus logo for target practice. But instead, horncologne (who posted the YouTube video) took the high road, and show groups of people at conferences, supporting their projects, and using them to build solutions for clients. Very classy. I hope that clients looking for web site solutions will see this. Lots and lots of clients.
{photo CC licensed by-nc-sa Neo}
