Wiley Professional DotNetNuke 4: Open Source Web Application Framework for ASP.NET 2.0 978-0-471-78816-4 Benutzerhandbuch
Produktcode
978-0-471-78816-4
An Inside Look at the
Evolution of DotNetNuke
By Shaun Walker
Project Founder
As much as DotNetNuke is an open source software application written for the Microsoft
ASP.NET platform, it is also a vibrant community with developers, end users, vendors, and
volunteers — all working together collaboratively in a rich and diverse ecosystem. This chapter
attempts to capture the essence of the project, expose its humble beginnings, provide insight into
its evolution, and document its many achievements, but not shy away from some of the hard
lessons learned in the process. The lifeblood of any community is its people; therefore, it is a dis-
tinct honor and privilege to be able to share some of the emotion and passion that has gone into
the DotNetNuke project so that you may be able to establish a personal connection with the vari-
ous stakeholders and perhaps precipitate your own decision to join this burgeoning ecosystem.
ASP.NET platform, it is also a vibrant community with developers, end users, vendors, and
volunteers — all working together collaboratively in a rich and diverse ecosystem. This chapter
attempts to capture the essence of the project, expose its humble beginnings, provide insight into
its evolution, and document its many achievements, but not shy away from some of the hard
lessons learned in the process. The lifeblood of any community is its people; therefore, it is a dis-
tinct honor and privilege to be able to share some of the emotion and passion that has gone into
the DotNetNuke project so that you may be able to establish a personal connection with the vari-
ous stakeholders and perhaps precipitate your own decision to join this burgeoning ecosystem.
In 2001–2002, I was working for a medium-sized software consulting company that was providing
outsourced software development services to a variety of large U.S. clients specializing primarily
in e-Learning initiatives. The internal push was to achieve CMM 3.0 on a fairly aggressive sched-
ule so that we could compete with the emerging outsourcing powerhouses from India and China.
As a result there was an incredible amount of focus on process and procedure and somewhat less
focus on the technical aspects of software engineering. Because the majority of the client base was
interested in the J2EE platform, the company primarily hired resources with Java skills — leaving
me with my legacy Microsoft background to assume more of an internal-development and project-
management role. The process improvement exercise consumed a lot of time and energy for the
company, attempting to better define roles and responsibilities and ensuring proper documenta-
tion throughout the project life cycle. Delving into CMM and the PMBOK were great educational
benefits for me — skills that would prove to be invaluable in future endeavors. Ultimately the
large U.S. clients decided to test the overseas outsourcing options anyway, which resulted in
severe downsizing for the company. It was during these tumultuous times that I recognized the
potential of the newly released .NET Framework (beta) and decided that I would need to take my
own initiative to learn this exciting new platform to preserve my long-term employment outlook.
outsourced software development services to a variety of large U.S. clients specializing primarily
in e-Learning initiatives. The internal push was to achieve CMM 3.0 on a fairly aggressive sched-
ule so that we could compete with the emerging outsourcing powerhouses from India and China.
As a result there was an incredible amount of focus on process and procedure and somewhat less
focus on the technical aspects of software engineering. Because the majority of the client base was
interested in the J2EE platform, the company primarily hired resources with Java skills — leaving
me with my legacy Microsoft background to assume more of an internal-development and project-
management role. The process improvement exercise consumed a lot of time and energy for the
company, attempting to better define roles and responsibilities and ensuring proper documenta-
tion throughout the project life cycle. Delving into CMM and the PMBOK were great educational
benefits for me — skills that would prove to be invaluable in future endeavors. Ultimately the
large U.S. clients decided to test the overseas outsourcing options anyway, which resulted in
severe downsizing for the company. It was during these tumultuous times that I recognized the
potential of the newly released .NET Framework (beta) and decided that I would need to take my
own initiative to learn this exciting new platform to preserve my long-term employment outlook.
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