Is PortAll Sunk?

Submitted by david on 10 January 2006 - 7:15pm

About nine months ago I read about this new blogging system called Portall and decided to check it out. It looked like a really good system; clean, sleek, and able to blog. I then went to the download page only find out it was in Private Beta. So I bookmarked the site and checked up on it every month or so to see what was going on.

And the answer is.... nothing.

Nine months after I first learned of the system, it's still in private beta. In nine months a human can conceive and have a child. So either PortAll is really buggy, or they're doing some high level quality control. And I'm not sure which.

My feeling is, if you're going to create a blogging system or CMS that's for use by the general populace, you should adhere to the old saying, "Release Early, Release Often;" namely, get it out so a larger userbase can help debug.

Nine months. That's an entire school year.

Comments

Theo (not verified)

25 March 2006 - 10:21am

Permalink

I am a member at the tech

I am a member at the tech enthusiast site JCXP.net, which is run by the guy who is also making PortAll. His blog www.jackchapple.com does have some screenshots of PortAll as it develops - they do look very promising. I do get what you mean, though! It is very poor that the beta page hasn't been updated yet.

JCXP.net's front page is powered by an older version of PortAll (0.83), which looks nothing like what is on his blog. He seems to have gone off on the trail of "gadgets", though.

david

25 March 2006 - 5:19pm

Permalink

Thanks for the info, Theo.

Thanks for the info, Theo. PortAll does look like a nice system.

The thing to remember when developing an open source project is that the project's homepage is the marketing tool. Keep it updated, make it look nice, and good things can happen .

Gadgets, eh? AKA bloatware? (More than ajax, I presume...)

Jack Chapple (not verified)

6 April 2006 - 3:09pm

Permalink

Perhaps you would also like

Perhaps you would also like to take into account the following:

a) PortAll is being developed by One Single Person (myself)
b) I have a busy life and currently I'm struggling to fit PortAll into it.

Besides, it's far from a dead project. And thank you for the positive comments.

Greg (not verified)

6 April 2006 - 4:56pm

Permalink

Hey guys, I'm one of jacks

Hey guys,

I'm one of jacks "private" beta testers for the PortAll project, I can assure you that this project is no where near dead, and each time Jack works on something new with this, I can feel the enthusiasm and dedication he has for this project, all life activities aside.. when jack works on this.. it's amazing!

No, i'm not simply biassed to saying the best about this project.. Jack of all people should know how annoying I am when I continously say "hmm that's not right, think we should do this?" and I wont shut up until we both agree something's perfect at that stage.

This project is a wait, but it's simply worth it. He's actually working on the templates right this minute and probably will continue to do so all night.

Anyway.. keep your eye out

Greg

david

6 April 2006 - 6:11pm

Permalink

@jack and greg - thanks for

@jack and greg - thanks for your responses. I'll post tonight on the jcxp forums more of my thoughts on this. It's off to work now. (and yes, jack, I know what you mean about busy life...)

~Elwyn (not verified)

8 April 2006 - 6:47am

Permalink

Iv seen a few exclusive

Iv seen a few exclusive screenshots of Portall, and I will back up whats already been said- its gonna be well worth the wait, and is develeping nicely!