As part of Microsoft’s efforts to promote interoperability, we’ve been asking members of the Open Source community to share their insights and experience with Open Source technology. If you’d be interested in sharing your views or know someone who would, please leave a comment below.
Alex Elchehimi
Meet Alex ElChehimi (@spicydesign), a WordPress and web designer from Montreal. I’ve known Alex for a few years and have even had the privilege of working with him a few times. The man makes WordPress into art.
In any case, I recently asked Alex some questions about how he got started with Open Source and what he likes about it. For Alex, the potential of Open Source lies in its versatility and the community behind it. But I’ll let Alex elaborate himself.
How did you first get involved in Open Source development?
Back in 2006, I was asked to build a website for a client and he needed to be able to update the content on a regular basis, and this is when I started looking for a solution because I knew that a static html website wasn’t an option, so I came across Joomla and I started learning more about it. It was good and even though I used it for the first 3 CMS driven websites, but I found it a little bit complicated which is why I kept looking for something simpler and this is how I came across my best friend: WordPress.
What makes you passionate about Open Source technology?
The community behind every single open source technology is second to none for me and it’s one of the important reasons that made me use open source software.
What is your preferred Open Source platform and why?
WordPress, As a web designer it’s easy for me to customize and to create any website using WP, and […] with all the powerful plugins [that are available] make it useful for almost anything you want to have in a website. One of my favorite plugins is Buddypress [which] can turn your website to a social network very easily, and Buddypress itself is an open source plugin as well.
What other/upcoming Open Source technologies are you excited about?
I have a long list here, so I’ll just name few jQuery, Linux, Firefox, Thunderbird, jQuery Mobile…
What Open Source platforms do you see as having the most importance potential in the coming 12-18 months?
WordPress for sure, Drupal, jQuery, jQuery Mobile…
How do you think Open Source is affecting SMBs?
Open Source is helping SMBs a lot, SMBs can benefit from powerful open source tools [that] equal and [are no] less important [than] tools that only enterprise level companies [with their resources] could develop.
The post Open Source, Versatility, and Community: Interview with @SpicyDesign appeared first on Make Web Not War.