Last year saw the likes of Drupal, WordPress, Plone and ImpressCMS in the winner’s circle and this year promises to be even better. New categories and new names are sure to impress surprise and hopefully delight.

Nominations begin today, August 9, 2010 for the Open Source Awards.

Some New, Some Old Open Source Categories

• Open Source CMS
• Hall of Fame CMS
• Most Promising Open Source Project
• Open Source E-Commerce Applications
• Open Source JavaScript Libraries
• Open Source Graphics Software

Look for big things from the “Most Promising Open Source Project,” this could spell future trends in the industry. Don’t overlook the other new categories such as Open Source E-Commerce Applications and Graphics Software, though, which simply add to an already prestigious award.

Predictions

Look for Drupal, Joomla and WordPress to dominate much of the Open Source CMS portion of the awards, but others such as ImpressCMS, Plone, and possibly even Magnolia may show their worth as well (much the same as last year).

Magento and ZenCart are likely to be mentioned at least in the E-Commerce category, while Gimp is sure to show up in the Graphics Software category.

Whether any of these predictions are correct will have to wait to be seen. One thing is for certain though, this year promises to be the biggest and hopefully the best Open Source Awards from PacktPublishing to date. Stay tuned to see if predictions are accurate and if your favorite Open Source project makes the list.

Timeline of the Awards

• August 9 | Nominations Open
• September 17 | Nominations Close
• September 27 | Voting Begins
• November 5 | Voting Ends
• November 15 | Winners Announced

Check out PacktPub for more information on rules and prizes.

Check out details here.

Aside from the aforementioned items, the WordPress admin interface received yet another makeover.  With a cleaner, prettier interface navigating the admin side won’t seem so tiresome and distracting.

Additional improvements include API extensions for custom backgrounds, headers, menus, shortened links, and more.

Check out the video for more information!

Drupal once again tops the Best Open Source PHP CMS category which they won in 2008 as well.  Filling in the other top two spots for Best Open Source PHP were new comer to the list WordPress which started as a blogging platform but has come full circle as a wonderful PHP-based CMS and Joomla who is no stranger to the list.  Drupal walks away with $2000 and the other two will receive $500 each.

In the Most Promising Open Source CMS we have ImpressCMS toping the list, which beats their tie with MiaCMS for the final spot on the list last year.  Pixie takes the runner-up spot as a “small, simple” CMS and Pligg brings up the rear.  Pligg and Pixie are making the list for the first time this year.  ImpressCMS will receive $2000 and the other two will receive $1000 each to aid their efforts.

Two more categories remain for this year’s Open Source CMS Awards from PacktPub.com.  They are Best Overall Open Source CMS and the Hall of Fame award.  Will Drupal again take the coveted Best Overall spot or will a new comer unseat them and force them to retire in the Hall of Fame?  We’ll see Friday.

The annual Open Source CMS Awards from PacktPub.com are designed to celebrate excellence in development while also keeping the open source spirit alive. With the downturns in the global economy over the last year open source technology has seen a dramatic rise in support as well as use, particularly in the enterprise level businesses, but small business as well.

The awards are broken down into 5 categories which include:

• Best Overall Open Source CMS
• Most Promising Open Source CMS
• Best PHP Open Source CMS
• Best Other Open Source CMS
• Open Source MVPs

Voting for this year’s Open Source CMS Awards begins September 21st and winners will be announced starting on November 9th.

New Category for the 2009 Open Source Awards

This year’s awards bring us a new category directed at acknowledging previous Overall winners such as Drupal and Joomla.  The Hall of Fame Award will celebrate continued excellence above and beyond the others in the field.

For More Information Visit PacktPub.com

Congratulations to previous winners and good luck to nominees this year. Stay tuned for continued coverage of the 2009 Open Source CMS Awards from PacktPub.com.

One main issue being worked on the WP 2.8.1 Beta is a fix for themes calling categories in a way that is causing them to fail.  As you can see on my site here, my category call is failing at the moment as well.

Other Changes in WordPress 2.8.1 Beta

• Less memory usage by the dashboard
• Automatic upgrade fix when a failed upgrade occurs (files were being deleted)
• Problems with the Rich Text Editor worked around
• Extra security added

If you are still on WordPress 2.7.x it may be a good idea to wait to upgrade.  If you are already on 2.8 you may be experiencing these problems but be patient or go get the 2.8.1 Beta now.

SixApart, creators of TypePad and Moveable Type

The news came during this years WordCamp Mid-Atlantic and was a bit of shock to some.  Anil Dash, co-founder of SixApart made the announcement during his keynote at the conference.

Available for WordPress Courtesy of  SixApart

Four major technologies that SixApart had reserved for Moveable Type and TypePad users are now available for WordPress as well.

• TypePad Connect – The social connecting technology from SixApart can be integrated with WordPress now.
• TypePad Anti-Spam – Available as a plugin, TypePad Anti-Spam may give Akismet a run for its money.
• SixApart Media – SixAparts answer to the advertising issues plaguing others.  Works similar to ClickBank.
• Blogs.com – Blog submission and search site.

Whether this may mean the end of continued work with Moveable Type or TypePad may yet to be seen.  But one thing is for sure…open source is changing still and with the still limping economy SixApart seems to realize that being even more open may be what saves some from ultimate downfall.