Open source content management system Joomla (www.joomla.org) announced on Tuesday that it has reached more than 25 million downloads.
Recently, Joomla 1.7 was released to simplify the CMS installation process and improve the development lifecycle. The WHIR talked to Ryan Ozimek, president of Open Source Matters, the non-profit that supports Joomla through organizational, legal and financial support about the update.
Several web hosting providers offer Joomla-specific packages and Joomla expertise to clients. HostGator, for example, offers three different levels of Joomla plans starting around $7 per month. With an international user base, Joomla and other open sources CMS can provide an opportunity to web hosts looking to expand their offerings.
Joomla has been used for the backend management for websites including Citibank, eBay, GE, Ikea and McDonald’s.
According to the press release, Joomla has more than 225,000 registered developers at the joomlacode or site, and about 3,000 individuals who have contributed directly to the development of the core codebase.
Joomla says these numbers do not represent the “massive international” Joomla communities.
“What makes Joomla unique is that it has attracted a community of hundreds of thousands of developers over a relatively small amount of time, many of whom make a good living off the project,” Ozimek said in a statement. “Being able to contribute to so many people’s livelihoods around the world and seeing the project grow despite the economic downturn is not only rewarding — it is a testament to the community and the product that community has built.”
First made available in 2005, Joomla only started tracking the number of CMS downloads in 2007, so the number could be much higher, according to the press release.
“Joomla has created a brand new industry for our employees to not only make a living but be passionate about building a community,” TJ Baker of Joomlashack, a provider of free and commercial Joomla templates and extensions, said in a statement. “Joomla is the reason we were able to start our own business and there are thousands of more development firms who share this same history with Joomla.”
According to the press release, 2.7 percent of the web runs Joomla.
Source: http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/091411_Open_Source_CMS_Joomla_Hits_25_Million_Downloads