Presented below is a benchmark comparison test between the latest Joomla 2.5.4 Emper (stable) and the upcoming Elxis 4.0 Nautilus (pre-alpha). The tests were performed with the Apache's ab tool on my local development computer which runs Windows. The numbers shown might seem low, this is because the tests were run on a Windows operating system. On a Linux live server they would be higher but the comparison results would be the same. A quick conclusion (we will go in more details later) is that Elxis is, at least, 4 times faster than Joomla!

"The most successful people online, starting with Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, or Guy Kawasaki, all have one thing in common. They maintain a very active blog. At the end of the day, this is where your online home base resides.

If you want to succeed online, get a blog (via Tumblr, WordPress, or Typepad) and start crunching out quality content. It's the lifeblood of your online presence."

- Ilya Pozin, 7 Habits of Web-Savvy Entrepreneurs, Inc., July 5, 2012

I woke up this morning with a very nice announcement that SilverStripe 3.0 has official been released. As you know, I'm a huge fan of the SilverStripe CMS. Next week, I hope to cover SilverStripe 3 better, but with limited time this Friday you'll just have to be satisfied with a copy of the below press release.

If I'm lucky, I think I might also be able to find a video interview I did last year with SilverStripe's co-founder, Sigurd Magnusson, on the then upcoming SilverStripe 3. I had some video editing format issues that perhaps I'm a little smarter now to overcome. Stay tuned on this "developing story".

Oracle WebCenter Content just got a great companion product – CARA from Generis, an Oracle Gold Partner. CARA is a web-based interface on top of WebCenter Content and it provides both a high-performance / high functionality end-user experience, as well as a full suite of configuration tools that allow you to build a business use case for Oracle WebCenter without coding.

The Joomla! Project recently released a new version of their popular open source CMS, version 2.5.5. Shortly after this release was made available some significant bugs were noted and the Joomla team quickly responded with Joomla 2.5.6 to fix the known issues. Site administrators are now encouraged to update their Joomla site with Joomla 2.5.6 and not Joomla 2.5.5.

Some of the new features introduced in Joomla 2.5.5 and now available in Joomla 2.5.6 include:

"From Friendster to Flickr to Facebook I’ve always been active on other sites, what we now call social media, but as my interest in those has waxed and waned I’ve always come back to my home on the web, powered by Open Source software on a domain I own. This is definitely the longest sustained activity I’ve done, and I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t continue the rest of my life, however long or short that may be."

- Matt Mullenweg, Ten Years of Blogging, ma.tt, June 16, 2012.

A few days ago, I received an early copy of a press release announcing the launch of Digital Clarity Group (DCG). DCG is an advisory and analyst company geared toward helping business leaders navigate "digital transformation" in their organizations. To the best of my knowledge, I have never recommend a particular consulting or analyst company on any of my blogs. I'd like to set new precedence and tell you why I think if you're a business leader you should consider hiring analysts from DCG to help you and your company face the upcoming technological challenges that have just started to surface.

NEW YORK, June 12, 2012- Engagement and control are two words driving conversations across the enterprise in 2012 and beyond. As the CIO grapples for technology governance, the CMO struggles to keep up with the chaotic changes in marketing.  Both are challenged with leveraging technology to engage, collaborate, socialize, and measure the more empowered consumer and the ever-more virtual workforce.  To meet this challenge – some clarity is needed. 

Digital Clarity Group (DCG), a new research-driven advisory firm focused on helping leaders navigate the digital transformation, is celebrating its launch today by identifying several seismic trends affecting the enterprise.

Technology industry veteran Scott Liewehr is President and Principal Analyst of DCG and has assembled an extraordinary “all-star team” of experts to focus on working with business leaders on all aspects of digital transformation.  This includes advising technology vendors on how to approach this market, as well as the buyers on how to better navigate the changes. As Scott stated; “Consumers and knowledge workers alike are grabbing control of the reigns and not letting go. The combination of the social web, open standards, the cloud, and ubiquitous mobility to name just a few, represent a field of dreams for empowered audiences to both collaborate and self-satisfy. For organizations, these represent an opportunity to transform, innovate, engage and develop loyal customers and employees like never before.” 

The transformation that DCG addresses is the overlap of where Innovative Change meets the Social Enterprise and Consumer Engagement, and is facilitated with Adaptive Technology.  And as part of the inaugural launch of DCG’s practice, the team has identified several seismic trends impacting leaders across these four themes.