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>
> The one that's more-or-less standard for the Unix and Open Source
> communites is CVS. It is free, included on any Linux or *BSD CD.
> http://www.cvshome.org/
>
> I've also heard good things about bitkeeper:
> http://www.bitkeeper.com/
>
[and]
>
> Certainly if you're in a software shop, and possibly in any field,
> your first question should be to ask what your developers use for
> revision control on product design.
>
Several posts in this thread have seemed to equate revision tracking
systems and doc management systems with content management systems. It
is my impression that content management is a newer concept (okay, the
concept probably goes back to Aristotle--maybe it's just a newer
buzzword) that implies somewhat different functionality.
I think of a content management system as something that makes it easy
to single-source fairly small chunks: feature descriptions; answers to
RFP questions; company profile; officer bios; standard disclaimers;
standard warnings; etc. The critical distinguishing feature, I would
think, would be the ability to search the system easily on the basis of
a cleverly selected collection of object attributes covering the obvious
(author, date, title, subject, etc.) and the less obvious (medium,
format, size, keywords, diction--marketing fluff, user doc, technical
spec, etc.). I'm not suggesting that this list is the right list, and it
certainly isn't exhaustive.
The systems I've seen exhibited at Seybold are focused on cataloguing
images for magazines; they track copyright and royalty information along
with subject matter, location, date, artist, etc.
I don't see why a rudimentary system couldn't be cobbled together in
Access and then later ported to a real database as the company expands
and the need grows. And this could probably be done by an intern with a
week of design (collaborating with users) and a week of construction. It
wouldn't be as robust as a commercial system or have all the bells and
whistles, but it might be adequate for the purpose.
Dick
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