Did You Read the Shaun Walker Interview Today
Feb
24
Written by:
2/24/2010
I just finished reading the interview with Shaun Walker by the folks at HowSoftwareIsBuilt.com. This is a website sponsored by Microsoft, whose purpose is to open a dialogue for proprietary and open source software development. What I think that means is that every developer you meet will have a slightly (or drastic) variance on what each of those terms mean. This website appears to have its goals rooted in bridging that gap. In helping to build that bridge, they recently interviewed Shaun Walker.
If you’re new to DotNetNuke®, then you might not know who Shaun Walker is. Basically, he’s the father of DNN. He was the original developer behind the web application framework you’re using today. I won’t go into any greater detail here, because Shaun does a much better job of telling us who he is in his interview.
The interview covers the topics that we have heard before, but not a whole lot. We pretty much all know where DNN came from if we’ve been in the DNN community for a while. However, this article begins and hovers over how DNN has grown over the past 2 years, especially with the venture capital funding. That is all great information, and I found it useful. However, I think there is a single section that most of the community will be very interested in.
One of the questions posed to Shaun asks about the future of DotNetNuke®. Any of us that are running businesses or sites that depend on DNN should keep our eyes open here whenever the topic is brought up. Fortunately, there wasn’t any new information there, but not everyone is aware of these future goals.
The most notable goal to me is for the DNN platform and the DNN marketplace (Snowcovered) to become a more seamless experience. This goal is important for a number of reasons. The first reason this is important to pay attention to, is that they are using the IPhone App Store as a model to try and minimize the learning curve and obstacles for non-technical hosts using the DNN framework. (Yes, there are plenty of them out there, and they need help.)
The main reason I loved to hear this is what other things this implies. If you haven’t already noticed, with each release of DNN, it becomes more and more usable. Many of the tasks that seemed troublesome or tedious have been getting easier. This is a path that will continue to grow. This has always been a concern and on the radar for the DotNetNuke® Corporation, but since they are now managing a commercial product, these enhancements are happening much faster.
The other future enhancement is already being done by those in the DNN offices, and elsewhere. This is the use of the cloud to host DNN websites. There are already many DNN websites, including mission-critical ones, that are utilizing the cloud – and doing it well. Luckily for them, DNN has its sights set on making sure that these use cases are completely covered.
There is more to the article, and I encourage you to read it for yourself.
7 comment(s) so far...
Re: Did You Read the Shaun Walker Interview Today
I did this interview just before we closed our Series B round of funding with UV Partners. This latest pre-emptive infusion of capital will allow us to focus our efforts on accelerating our engineering efforts to an even greater extent in 2010; result in a higher quality, more feature-rich product offering. A seamless user experience is our theme for 2010 and you will see it manifest itself in a variety of meaningful ways. Whether its a simpler installation experience from the Web Platform Installer ( we are working closely on Microsoft on some exciting new initiatives in this area ), "App Store" integration between DotNetNuke and the Snowcovered Marketplace, or turn-key deployment to a variety of Cloud providers, we are going to take "instant gratification" to the next level. In the process we will create new, lucrative opportunities for our partner ecosystem which ultimately aligns itself very well with the entrepreneurial culture on which the DNN project and community was built. I hope you are as excited as I am at what the future has in store...
By Shaun Walker on
2/26/2010
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Re: Did You Read the Shaun Walker Interview Today
Thanks for commenting on my blog, Shaun. I am excited as ever at these goals for DNN. Thanks to you, the other co-founders, core team members, and now the engineers, I am able to speak so highly of DNN and get people to change their minds about it. For example, I get comments like this all of the time, "DNN sucks. I tried it, and it just didn't work right." Or, "DNN is too hard to use. You can't do something simple, like [fill in the task]." All I have to do in response to that now is ask, "When is the last time you tried it?" It is most comment to heard that they haven't used DNN since version 2 or 3. With all of the incredible updates in version 5, we have won back the support of nearly every one of these people I have spoken too. Thank you all for your hard work and passion.
By Will on
2/26/2010
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Re: Did You Read the Shaun Walker Interview Today
Web platform installer -- Cool! I am very excited to see what's coming up in 2010 for DNN.
Great post, Will.
By Adam Paxton on
2/26/2010
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Re: Did You Read the Shaun Walker Interview Today
You new blog looks awesome. Great job!
I like the concept of the App Store. This makes DNN an even more attrative target for developers, which will ultimately make DNN even more successful.
The one area I think DNN needs to make some improvements is its message. Look at WordPress.org for instance, it feels fresh, and simple. DNN's main site needs an overhaul, and a new sharp look with completely reworked copy work.
I beleive DNN is the best CMS platform outhere from an enduser and developer perspective, but we need to do a better job of getting that message out there.
Great job to Shawn and his team for the great work they are doing on the platform, its just the message needs to match it, and DotNetNuke.com is the hub of that.
By Mitch Labrador on
2/26/2010
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Re: Did You Read the Shaun Walker Interview Today
@Adam & Mitch: Thanks!
@Mitch: I agree whole-heartedly. I have felt for some time that the DNN site needs to do two things. First, overhaul for SEO. Not everyone knows how to search for a new CMS when they're looking for one. The other thing is exactly what you mentioned. I think the DNN site would do much better in all areas if it were to redesign it with more of a Web 2.0 experience. Just looking at it should convey simple, easy, reliable, and trustworthy. I think it still looks like a developer website right now even though it's much better than it's ever been.
By Will on
2/26/2010
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Re: Did You Read the Shaun Walker Interview Today
Shaun and Will, currently as both a Snowcovered reseller and a developer/configurer of DNN sites we enjoy a profit margin on DNN Modules we sell (even modules not developed by us). How will you ensure that for those of us reselling modules from DNN to end user clients that we continue to enjoy these margins - even if the client purchases directly from Snowcovered in your "seamless user experience"?
By Lee Drake on
3/4/2010
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Re: Did You Read the Shaun Walker Interview Today
That's a great question, Lee. I have full confidence that DNN Corp will do their best to continue to extend the same experience that vendors have enjoyed through to the marketplace experience. It's really too early to even speculate on the implementation right now though.
By Will on
3/4/2010
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