At itoctopus, we love to share our knowledge about Joomla. We think that by doing so, we are helping Joomla become an even better CMS. We also like to share our knowledge because we believe in knowledge sharing as a concept that evolves our civilization in general (think about what would have happened if Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla kept their knowledge to themselves). Now, before getting too philosophical, let us explain what this is all about…
Back in May, we submitted a simple extension, this one, to the JED. Today is November 19th and the extension still wasn’t approved or disapproved. This can only mean one thing: the people managing the JED are understaffed, perhaps reduced to just one person who may or may not be fully dedicated to this job.
Now, we know that Joomla is open source, and most likely it doesn’t get enough money to afford full time staff, but if Joomla’s core is the heart of Joomla, then the JED is the limbs. One can do very little without his limbs, and the same concept applies to Joomla. A Joomla website is a barely functional website without 3rd party extensions (imagine Joomla without JCE Editor, K2, RS Form, VirtueMart, etc…) . This means that by ignoring the JED, Joomla can slowly, but surely, become a less attractive CMS, especially for potential users, which in turn has disastrous effects on Joomla and the companies supporting it.
Of course, we don’t want to reach a point where Joomla becomes obsolete because the JED is being neglected. That’s why we are proposing 2 solutions:
- Have a Wikipedia-like donation season, where everyone visiting the website will be asked if he could donate a small amount to support Joomla. A visible donation thermometer will encourage many people to donate to support the project. Joomla might not need millions; just a couple of hundred thousand dollars would probably be more than enough to help the project and hire a couple of people to manage the JED.
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If the above is not an option, then allow any member to submit an extension (for a very small fee – something like $5) and approve it automatically. Let the community decide whether the extension is bad or good. While this concept seems a bit frightening, one has to admit that it’s working rather well for Google on the Google Play market (on Android devices).
We think that the first option is infinitely better than the second one, but the second option is still better than what we have right now. Either option can help Joomla from falling into the abyss of outdated CMS’s.
Now, if you want to discuss with us your thoughts on the JED and how to make Joomla a better CMS, then feel free to contact us. We always pick up the phone and we always listen!