There is a common trend that nags
the world of sophisticated software- it’s not always so easy to use. Just like
a kid getting on a bike for the first time, the common Internet user does not always
have the know how to maneuver through the intricacies of otherwise valuable software. But as we can expect from our ever-progressing
cyber world, an invention is made to help our young biker get on his way to winning
the Tour de France: Training Wheels. This is where Acquia comes in.
Acquia
is a new software company that provides value-added software products and
services for the Drupal social publishing system. What this means is that Acquia
is aimed to increase the use of Drupal by further developing the core
technology and providing value-added software products and network services. But in order to understand the training
wheels, we must first understand the bike, so let’s take a brief overview of
Drupal.
According
to their website: “Drupal is a free software package that allows an individual
or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety
of content on a website.” Essentially, Drupal is used to build a diverse range
of websites. From personal web sites or blogs, social networking sites, community
web portals, to e-commerce applications and corporate web sites, Drupal can
deliver results. Drupal also includes many freely-available add-on modules, which
allow the integration of content management systems, blogs, forums, picture
galleries, podcasting, newsletters, file up and downloading, and more. And with
over two-million downloads since inception, Drupal is already catching the
interest of a diverse array of web-developers.
But as
is true with even the nicest bikes, not just anyone can jump on and ride
without a little bit of help. Drupal’s main setback is that its true potential
can only be reached by those with developed technical knowhow and resources,
which means that many common-users remain a bit aloof. But with the addition of
Acquia to the Drupal foundation, even the novice riders are getting a chance to
coast around.
Acquia
has basically made Drupal more user-friendly. Through picking out the best
modules and offering a commercially supported version with technical support
and network services, Acquia is making Drupal fit for anyone interested in
developing a website. It is very likely that with this diversification of
potential users, Drupal will see substantial growth in use over the next few
months. After-all, the software is free! Founded in December 2007, Acquia has
already seen investments from North Bridge Venture Partners, Sigma Partners,
and O’Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures.
With
simplicity and growth just around the corner, it’s hard to tell just how big
the Acquia- Drupal team will get. With spiffy new training wheels for our nifty
bikes the road ahead looks promising for these software companies.
