In my youth, my family had to pinch pennies. This meant that I was accustomed to living around cheap wanna-be products. The items my family acquired were mostly a disappointment. Generally, they were knock-off quality with poor features and a limited lifespan. I often pondered why my friends were still able to use and maintain the same products over years when my family spent time replacing stuff all the time.
Through this experience, I discovered that value was something to be sought out. I formulated that you could pay more and usually get something reliable, or you could pay less and get something disposable. Most of the time, your reliance on quality is based upon the provider. Shop at Sears for tools and you can expect to get something that will last. Shop at Costco and the tool might easily break within a short time. Sometimes the latter is acceptable if your task is small and you only need short term function, but most of the time you are better served with a reliable product from a solid source.
This has a very close analogy in the CMS world. You can't always tell by price what you are going to get, so you have to rely on the vendor. If you have simple needs, then a roll-your-own solution, or a simple Host-provider solution can be an effective answer. When you want more, you have to face a big jungle of choices and options, and if you have a small budget it may seem insurmountable.
Moderate to large scale CMS is a problem with many solutions. Plain Black Corporation provides a very strong contender in that market with WebGUI. I can apply a modest amount of time toward configuration and set-up and I am rewarded with a robust, sophisticated and tested CMS. I can install from scratch with no out-of-pocket expense. By leveraging well vetted technologies (Apache, Linux, Perl, Javascript and more), WebGUI consolidation forms the backbone of a service that can start simple and serve me when I require sophistication and power as my needs grow.
At any point, if I need help, I can rely on the open WebGUI community. In addition, Plain Black is there to help, with hosting, site design, and client specified site enhancements brought to life using their experienced and energetic team.
Open Source makes it possible. Plain Black is an organization designed to provide full life-cycle support to back it up; making it a great safety net within my web and intranet requirements. I know WebGUI is going to be providing and improving on my deployment for the long term. This clearly is the original meaning of value, applied to my needs and likely yours as well.
