Saturday, May 2, 2009

Elgg versus Dolphin

I've tried dolphin, it's a very mature software package, but with limitations. The free version has adds, and it is not open source. Changing the script to fit your needs is impossible with the free version. This kind of goes against the grain of community software.
Buying the source code cost well over $1000 last time I checked. On the plus side there is a very healthy amount of plug ins and themes available. and if your will to fork out the cash, you can have the source code and no adds.
The smart money these days is on elgg. Elgg is a no cost fully customisable open source community social networking package. It is released under the GNU licencing system. In the core elgg package you receive a fully functional social networking software package. It is then up to you to customise this to your own requirements by installing modular plugins.
Elgg is not as mature as dolphin, but my bet is it will surpass boonex (dolphin) sometime later this year. Already there are well over 500 plugins, and a huge community dedicated to building and improving this project. The growth rate of this community social net working package is huge you can see a sample at our children's site http://fbfkids.com/
and or visit Elgg here http://elgg.org/
or visit boonex dolphin here http://www.boonex.com/products/dolphin/

This is an update
As the comments below state Dolphin has now released their source code. They have also dropped their price to $299.00 Probably in a responce to the competition of Elgg.
Be aware that open source doe not mean free or GNU.
The comment below about stripping out the adds would be tantamount to theft. Most hosting accounts will delete your website if they become aware of this practice without warning.

10 comments:

  1. The free version of Dolphin is too open source. Check there website. That means, while difficult, you can change the coding of the software to manually remove the ads, without paying licensing fees. Difficult yes, impossible no. It is written in PHP by the way. It would not matter if it was open source or not, you could still edit the code due to the fact that PHP is a fairly easy language, and there is nothing to stop you from editing the code. You could even edit it with notepad if you wanted.

    It is just easier to pay them to remove the ads for you then do the coding your self. Next time get your facts correct before posting.

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  2. This post is old but I think it's a good think to answer.

    Maybe now the new version of Dolphin is better than Dolphin 6. The fact is Dolphin is open source and modulable.

    ANd for Jason, no you can't remove the ad by modifying the code, it would be against the licence! (I mean you can, but you're not allowed to)

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  3. As stated above Dolphin has gone open source, So this adds a little spice to the competition. Quite frankly suggesting you can go into the code and strip out the coding that produces the adds is akin to suggesting that yes cars have keys but there are still ways to steal them This would be theft.

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  4. I checked out dolphin 7 - at first I was impressed, but then after I did some checking, they turned out to be not so wonderful. First off, boonex will not let you remove their logo from your page-(s) down in the right hand corner), that was my first flag, then I hard that they only use paypal, and paypal has been known to sit on people`s money, and what is the fbi doing about paypal...nothing. Go ahead write them an exhaustive letter at their website, you get no response... third they do not give video tuts and the support stinks.
    I put it in my recycle bin and hit delete. Go with elgg or other but one that you can modify otherwise your gonna be hating life after it`s installed, especially if you need to make sales and paypal suddenly decides to limit access to your account because of a 10.00 charge back by some idiot same goes for ebay.

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  5. I am in the process of developing a Social Network/Paysite. I too have been looking into both Elgg and Dolphin 7, but my computer programming knowledge limits me from fully understanding their pros and cons...any recommendations?

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  6. go with elgg we now have 113000 real registered users on our site with elgg (http:fbkids.com) and according to google analytics we are projected to have well over 1/4 of a million users within the next 9 months

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  7. I think the weakness of boonex is on community support. to contribute to the development of modules or other required paid membership. but in my opinion Boonex more better than Elgg.

    DOlphin Templates
    The Best Boonex Dolphin Free Templates and Premium Templates.

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  8. It's a very mature software package..and nice explanation you have shared here and it's great for me to read this article here, I am so glad to read this explanation.

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  10. which is good for making school community site?

    ReplyDelete