Ruby on Rails is not a CMS. It’s a framework. While it’s true that the line of demarcation between a framework and a CMS continues to blur, it’s still important to be able to tell one from the other. Conceptually, the two are discrete entities.
A framework is unified set of tools that make it easier to implement repetitive tasks. It’s not intended to be an end-product. Instead, it’s meant to be a foundation upon which you build your application. A framework, by definition, is a generic system. CMS, on the other hand is, an application that is supposed to solve a specific problem: managing the content. The problem with Drupal is that it tries to be the both a framework and a CMS and introduces a maze of abstractions.
The content itself as well as the kind of content management practiced tend to vary from one organization to the other. The whole concept of an ‘definitive CMS’, therefore, is ridiculously delusory.
A CMS, in my opinion, can approach this problem in either of two ways. Since a core set of common features could still be identified in each kind of CMS, a CMS can be generic system which different category of users can build upon to meet their respective requirements. Secondly, a CMS can zero in on a particular niche and provide all content management features applicable to that segment. This, of course, would render it, and rightfully so, unusable for other niches.
A framework is unified set of tools that make it easier to implement repetitive tasks. It’s not intended to be an end-product. Instead, it’s meant to be a foundation upon which you build your application. A framework, by definition, is a generic system. CMS, on the other hand is, an application that is supposed to solve a specific problem: managing the content. The problem with Drupal is that it tries to be the both a framework and a CMS and introduces a maze of abstractions.
The content itself as well as the kind of content management practiced tend to vary from one organization to the other. The whole concept of an ‘definitive CMS’, therefore, is ridiculously delusory.
A CMS, in my opinion, can approach this problem in either of two ways. Since a core set of common features could still be identified in each kind of CMS, a CMS can be generic system which different category of users can build upon to meet their respective requirements. Secondly, a CMS can zero in on a particular niche and provide all content management features applicable to that segment. This, of course, would render it, and rightfully so, unusable for other niches.