If you’ve tried working with open source CMS Drupal, and you’re not a full time developer, chance is you encountered problems. In fact, chance is that you completely gave up on it because it’s so damn complex; dozens of interdependent modules are needed for certain features, and not all modules are working well with the latest version of Drupal…in the end, you need to roll up your sleeves and dive into the code yourself, which is something not many are willing to do.
Chris Pirillo has a solution: he started a project which he calls Gnomepal (the name was announced on Twitter and is literally minutes old,) which should take Drupal and turn it into a CMS which is much easier to use and is modular in the sense that it offers readymade packages for various purposes; for example, a photo gallery, a Digg-like site and the like. This is a group effort; everyone that wants to participate can join in. Check out what Chris has to say about the idea himself.
While I do applaud Pirillo on a brave idea, I must say that it seems a bit too idealistic to me. Sure, everyone would like to have a great, powerful CMS which requires no programming knowledge, but it’s a very, very tough goal to achieve. You want proof? Just look at thousands of available CMS systems out there, and find the perfect one. That’s right, it doesn’t exist: if you want simplicity, you lose on power and features; if you want power and features, then there’s not way it’s going to be simple.
In any case, we’ll be watching, and hopefully we’ll have something more tangible to look at soon.
