EllisLab To ExpressionEngine Fans: We’re Sorry
Fans of ExpressionEngine (a premium CMS/blogging software developed by EllisLabs) have been criticizing the company lately over bugs from the company’s launch of ExpressionEngine 2.0 (which was released in July).
After gathering feedback from developers, Kenny Meyers published an article criticizing EllisLab for their silence regarding ExpressionEngine’s launch (in which he humorously compared EllisLab to Apple), as well as highlighting why the company needs to hire a UX (aka user experience) designer.
In response to the criticism (which seems to have the support of many EE developers), EllisLab issued a response upon their corporate blog.
Historically its no secret that we’ve been bad at communicating with the Community during times of growth and the stress that goes with it. That’s precisely why I hired Leslie Doherty. So, speaking specifically to Kenny’s point #2, yes, unleashing Flinger is already happening.
A blog post or potentially a series of blog posts is how we would normally respond. But we’ve decided that’s not giving this the weight it truly deserves. Instead, we’re going to ask Dan, Lea, & Ryan to bring us on the EE Podcast so we can actually talk about what’s going on with EllisLab. Anybody who has talked with me in person knows that I’m very open about the state of EllisLab and I think an interview will bring that out in a way that a blog post simply can’t. (Official ExpressionEngine Blog)
Unlike most other CMS/blog platforms out there, ExpressionEngine is a premium service where members pay the company (i.e. EllisLab) in order to use the software for their respective sites.
Despite attracting over 1,000 new clients a day, the company has yet to resolve many of the issues plaguing the CMS, leaving it up to third party developers to “fill in the gaps” (which might explain why one of them launched an iPhone app).
Although ExpressionEngine isn’t as big as other CMS/blog platforms out there, they do have a very active and passionate community that is unrivaled by anyone save WordPress and Drupal (at least from my experience).
Hopefully EllisLabs can resolve these issues soon (not to mention communicate with everyone more), as the company is one of the few premium blog/CMS platforms worth their weight in code.
Update: As Frank pointed out below, ExpressionEngine 2.0 was launched in July. Article corrected to reflect that fact.
