Pada pendapat saya, if you comparing Joomla! and Drupal side by side, it is like comparing between BMW GT and Mazda RX7. Both are cars, but totally different in class. Drupal is BMW, and Joomla! is RX7. This is from my point of view, comparing Drupal and Joomla!.

BMW GT:
“I am fast at track, elegant, modern car in the world right now! Look at me, even girls would fall for me. Millions of users choose me.”

Mazda RX7:
“Wow! You are really great! I cannot win over you in terms of elegance, but I can go fast too, maybe faster than you. Plus, there are many workshops can modify me to become a super fighting machine on track.”

Skyline GTR:
“Hey, we all have 4 tires, 1 engine and a steering wheel. Don’t fight for small things, dummy.”

This is my imagination only, and IT DOESN’T REPRESENT any individuals or organizations (BMW, Mazda or Nissan); neither does it related to my family, colleagues or company I’m working for.

Drupal:
Is a modern CMS, with enterprise level of features, full of community support, got thousands of modules and do things the right way. Even a big name like Ubuntu use this software.

Joomla!:
Similar to Drupal, Joomla can go to enterprise level as well. Its community support is as big as Drupal, plus there are many extensions for it to become something better.

Me:
Both Drupal and Joomla! have their own communities, supporters, features, etc.

Pada saya, berbanding Joomla, Drupal boleh jadi satu web application yang power. Ada forum, built-in comment system,  dan lain lain lagi.  Tapi Joomla! boleh jadi social networks, corporate websites, blogs, forums and many more.

Kalau kita tengok pada carta ini, kita boleh nampak perbezaan antara keduanya. Walaupun carta itu compare Joomla! v1.0.x, bukan Joomla! v1.5.x.

Kita dapat tengok yang Drupal lebih kepada satu enterprise system seperti satu organisasi yang besar, formal, dedicated corporate levels or intranet solutions. Joomla! pula kita boleh bayangkan satu syarikat sederhana atau SME, yang sentiasa ingin bergerak pantas, actions must be fast, think that meetings are waste of time, and always going wild for whatever reason.

Dari segi maintenance pula, Drupal memerlukan tenaga kerja yang mahir dengan sistem ni. Kalau kena handover sistem ni kepada staff baru, staff tu kena tahu guna Drupal. Kalau dia tak tahu, kena bagi training.

Sama juga dengan Joomla!, staff tu pun kena tahu macam mana nak gunakan Joomla!, kalau tak tahu kena bagi training juga.  Tapi kalau ikutkan, Joomla! amat mudah untuk digunakan oleh staff yang kurang mahir dalam bidang IT. Buat training sehari pun dia dah boleh guna. Kalau Drupal, rasanya mungkin ambil masa 2 atau 3 hari jugak untuk training.

Drupal ada banyak modules yang boleh kita gunakan, sebagai contoh yang paling popular ialah http://drupal.org/project/cck. Untuk senarai modules Drupal yang lain: drupal.org/project/modules.

Joomla! pun ada banyak extensions, antara yang paling popular ialah JomSocial, Kunena dan Virtuemart. Yang lain boleh cari di sini: extensions.joomla.org.

Tapi apa pun fungsi kedua-dua sistem ni, tak dapat kita nafikan tujuan utama sistem itu ialah untuk end user. Orang yang menggunakan produk akhir. If we are developing system for a bank, all the bank’s staff and customers are the end user. Not us or the one who installs Joomla! or Drupal for them.

Sebenarnya kita tak boleh nak letak Drupal dan Joomla! sebelah menyebelah, side by side, apple to apple. Because Joomla! have their own directions, as well as Drupal. Again, they both got their own communities, experts, followers and fans.

At the end, we should ask ourselves, “Which car suits me?”. And please be friends. Just like our BMW GT and Mazda RX7. They can move side by side on the road, and they can battle on the same track.

Note: This is my personal opinions only, and IT DOESN’T REPRESENT any individuals or organizations; neither does it related to my family, colleagues or company I’m working for.