1 2 Previous Next 15 Replies Latest reply on Feb 20, 2008 11:52 AM by claprun

    Comparing JBoss Portal to Liferay or other portal products

    brucespringfield

      I'm evaluating different portal products. I've downloaded and started using JBoss portal and Liferay. So far, they seem comparable. Any drawbacks to using JBoss Portal? Any strong reasons to use one over the other?

        • 1. Re: Comparing JBoss Portal to Liferay or other portal produc
          wesleyhales

          I think anyone on the JBoss Portal team will tell you to use our product ;)
          So why not read a post from a recent conversion from Liferay to JBoss Portal:
          http://www.jroller.com/robwilliams/entry/few_random_rants

          • 2. Re: Comparing JBoss Portal to Liferay or other portal produc
            brucespringfield

            I have found other posts on the web complaining about Liferay's dependability. It seems JBoss Portal also has much fewer outstanding issues than Liferay.

            • 3. Re: Comparing JBoss Portal to Liferay or other portal produc
              claprun

              Maybe it's due to the fact that JBoss Portal has a fairly extensive test suite...

              • 4. Re: Comparing JBoss Portal to Liferay or other portal produc
                aerostra

                One of my reasons for choosing JBP was that the admin ability was very easy to figure out and I needed something that could be easily understood by the end user. Second was that I got JBP v2.4 working with Java Studio Creator portlets I had done, with very little additional config work - something I cannot seem to do with any other portal. Thirdly, and more importantly a fact which is overlooked by the out-of-the-box crowd, is that the documentation is excellent.

                On another note, it just feels nicer to configure and use even if you haven't had much experience with Jboss AS/Portal server! Ok. you don't get ready made portlets like Liferay, but if you are writing your own, then JBP is my recommendation.

                • 5. Re: Comparing JBoss Portal to Liferay or other portal produc
                  syllant

                  Hi,

                  I'm sorry to add a less convinced review about JBP.

                  We've chosen JBP (2.6.2) because we wanted a technical oriented portal, i.e. a portal with a strong architecture and without too many user oriented features so we could build our product on top of it. We are so disappointed that we are about to drop it.

                  I must add that I had used several portals before, among them Liferay. I don't believe another one would have fit better than JBP, all of them have their own drawbacks.

                  But I just want to point that JBP architecture seems to be very flexible and extensible, but is actually very rigid in several points. I'll try to sum up them in another post later (build/deployment process, layout/theme architecture, page definitions, webapps architecture, ...) to be more constructive than here :-)

                  Concerning documentation, yes it's relatively good to start but forums are more useful when you known JBP basics. And you'll note that 1/3 of posts are not answered...

                  I'm sorry again to be less enthousiastic whereas I am on an JBP forum, but it's more interesting when there is a debate :-)

                  • 6. Re: Comparing JBoss Portal to Liferay or other portal produc
                    theute

                     

                    "syllant" wrote:

                    But I just want to point that JBP architecture seems to be very flexible and extensible, but is actually very rigid in several points. I'll try to sum up them in another post later (build/deployment process, layout/theme architecture, page definitions, webapps architecture, ...) to be more constructive than here :-)


                    Please detail, nothing is worse than bringing fear, uncertainty and doubts.

                    "syllant" wrote:

                    Concerning documentation, yes it's relatively good to start but forums are more useful when you known JBP basics. And you'll note that 1/3 of posts are not answered...


                    On the 9 messages i see from you all were questions, i don';t see how you contributed to help people on the forums. Please keep ion mind that we have professional support both for production and development where 100% of the questions are answered by knowledgeable people

                    • 7. Re: Comparing JBoss Portal to Liferay or other portal produc
                      syllant

                       

                      "thomas.heute@jboss.com" wrote:

                      Please detail, nothing is worse than bringing fear, uncertainty and doubts.
                      ...
                      On the 9 messages i see from you all were questions, i don';t see how you contributed to help people on the forums.

                      What are you expecting with this charming and friendly tone (that you are not using for the first time) ?

                      No doubt it encourages to contribute.

                      • 8. Re: Comparing JBoss Portal to Liferay or other portal produc
                        theute

                        Well you come and complain that '1/3 of the posts are not answered' it means that 2/3 of the posts *are* answered.

                        Your attitude is a disrespect for the people answering in this forum on their free time. If you don't help, people may not be totally inclined to help you.

                        You don't want to contribute, that's fine with me, but be respectful for those who do.

                        Also, we have ears open on design issues and a dedicated forum for that, if you don't participate, we can't hear your issues and solutions.

                        If my tone disturbed you, i apologize.
                        But i've met too many people who believes that opensource, is a place where they can take everything (including people's time) without having to give back, this is not my definition of opensource. I probably considered you as one of those a bit too fast. Sorry. I type faster than i calm down ;)

                        • 9. Re: Comparing JBoss Portal to Liferay or other portal produc
                          prabhat.jha

                           

                          'll try to sum up them in another post later (build/deployment process, layout/theme architecture, page definitions, webapps architecture, ...) to be more constructive than here :-)


                          I am interested in your post that you have mentioned as well.

                          • 10. Re: Comparing JBoss Portal to Liferay or other portal produc
                            swisst

                            My own two cents....

                            Your employer has two choices when it comes to paying for JBoss Portal. Either your employer is going to pay for your time to figure out your issues (or lack of understanding) with using JBoss portal, or they could pay for training and a support contract. I wish my employer would have bought a support contract!

                            I completely agree with Thomas. If he and the other developers spend all of their time on unpaid support, this product would go nowhere! For all of us on the free plan, this is a community effort.

                            There is no free lunch! Either pay the upfront costs, or pay them with your research time. Fortunately there is a lot of documentation, this forum, the wiki (please switch to Confluence :-) ), and as a last resort, step through the code!

                            • 11. Re: Comparing JBoss Portal to Liferay or other portal produc
                              theute

                              Thank you for the support swisst and thanks for the time you spend on answering messages in the forums !

                              • 12. Re: Comparing JBoss Portal to Liferay or other portal produc
                                syllant

                                 

                                "thomas.heute@jboss.com" wrote:
                                Well you come and complain that '1/3 of the posts are not answered' it means that 2/3 of the posts *are* answered.

                                Who did complain ?!? You read to fast Thomas ;-) Someone asks for advices about JBP, I note he'll have to read this forum but I warn him that many questions are not answered compared to other projects. I hadn't notice this ratio when I had selected JBP. What's wrong with that, isn't it true ? I am not complaining, I have posted 5/6 times, and then I've started to search in source code rather than here. That's all.

                                "thomas.heute@jboss.com" wrote:
                                Also, we have ears open on design issues and a dedicated forum for that, if you don't participate, we can't hear your issues and solutions.

                                Bad point for you : I've filled 4 issues on Issue Tracker. First one was resolved, other ones are still opened without any comment (JBPORTAL-1833, JBPORTAL-1832, JBPORTAL-1811). Besides, you have stated I posted only questions in forums, I've also posted bugs and remarks, without response. This the first reason why I've stopped to contribute.

                                "thomas.heute@jboss.com" wrote:
                                But i've met too many people who believes that opensource, is a place where they can take everything (including people's time) without having to give back, this is not my definition of opensource. I probably considered you as one of those a bit too fast. Sorry. I type faster than i calm down ;)

                                I'm working with OS projects for about 10 years, I'll send patches when I'm able to, I've created some modest projects myself, spending some time for support, I think I know the rules. And one of the rules is encouraging discussions with users. If you don't stand any criticism, I close the none-debate for myself, nevermind as I'll drop JBP from our architecure for our next release. This is the second reason why I don't contribute.

                                Please, read again the discussion to see how your reaction is misplaced. And note the Prabhat Jha's answer...

                                PS : I'm not sure to post my detailed notes when I see this type of reaction. Maybe this was intended for...

                                • 13. Re: Comparing JBoss Portal to Liferay or other portal produc
                                  claprun

                                  Hmm, it's nice to see some spirited discussions... :)

                                  Forums are just what their names imply: a forum for discussion. There is no guarantee that you will get an answer from anyone, let alone from JBoss developers. We try to monitor them but there's only so much we can do.

                                  As far as JIRA tasks go, unless the issue is deemed blocking, it probably won't receive much immediate consideration, though eventually they should. I will look at your submitted tasks right now and see what can be done about them. I'm sorry that you feel like your contributions is not received well enough for you to continue participating.

                                  As far as receiving criticism goes, we can take constructive criticism and even welcome it. However, saying that we're not helpful enough on the forums or threatening stopping contributing is not helping either you, us, the product or our users... :)

                                  • 14. Re: Comparing JBoss Portal to Liferay or other portal produc
                                    syllant

                                    Thanks for this more moderate tone Chris :-)

                                    Concerning forum and JIRA management, I fully understand and I would never have mentioned it if a JBM team member didn't blame me for not contributing.

                                    And I never reproached JBP team to not answer in forums or to not be helpful :-) Initially, I just point it as a fact to consider for newcomers as it's a major criteria when you have to select an OS product.

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