I am very new to EE.  I have one simple question.  What is the advantage in buying this software at $249.95 when it’s apparent from http://expressionengine.com/forums/viewforum/6/ that there are very similar problems as other (free) management systems like WordPress? 

I’m not trying to knock this software by any means but, I installed the software, everything went smooth, but when I changed the Blog name, all of the article are gone from the front page?  I know this is a simple fix but with minutes of installation I have already run into a problem.

Could someone please explain the main advantage of using this application over other systems that are still vulnerable to hackers and need constant upgrades for security purposes?

For me, it’s great, reliable support.
Have a friend who’s big on free open source (ie; Wordpress). He’s run into several issues with security, upgrades, things going terribly wrong (backend exposed to the public, etc) and spent many man/days trying to solve without much help from support or the communities around those products. He’s spent many times the cost of EE in time and aggravation.

Edit-Add: To your direct problem, renaming - It’s probably directly related to not learning/understanding EE quite enough to know how to do that properly without consequences. ie: How weblogs and templates interact. Easily solved but would probably happen on any system is not familiar.

^ absolutely, every CMS has a learning curve so when you first start with EE we all ran into similar issue.

For the most part “missing” content like you describe is usually down to a missing/incorrect tag parameter and is easily solved - so long as you know whats wrong, these forums are chock full of all the regular issues people have and you’ll find solutions for just about everything.

All CMS’s suffer from silly “startup” problems, and EE is no exception, but the big difference is that EE is probably 10x more flexible in what it can do than you first imagined. Once you get over the initial hurdle of how it works, certainly for me at least, you start to see lots of possibilities of things you can do and ways to do them without the need for 2 dozen additional modules/plugins. This is what sets EE apart.

Denny Switzer - 08 September 2008 06:10 AM

Could someone please explain the main advantage of using this application over other systems that are still vulnerable to hackers and need constant upgrades for security purposes?

I choose it because it is backed up by a team of full time developers and dedicated support staff.

ExpressionEngine is extremely secure!
I have never heard of nor seen nor read anything about an exploit, injection attack, etc.

Just like Ryan Irelan above, I too chose EE for similar reasons.
The amount we pay for this CMS pays the salaries of their developers. Can WordPress do that?

haha, nope!

OrganizedFellow - 08 September 2008 10:39 PM

ExpressionEngine is extremely secure!
I have never heard of nor seen nor read anything about an exploit, injection attack, etc.

How often are security updates released? 

Thanks for all the input.  I am seriously considering using this software because I like what I see.  I am familiar enough with code to know something like, missing content that was once there, is a simple solution.  I guess it’s the “learning curve” that I’m not willing to put forth if I find repeated software issues and security updates that drain more of my time than it’s worth.

Any discounts for multiple licenses? 

Thanks again!

edit:  Has anyone used this software for commercial real state?  If so, I would love to see an example.

Denny Switzer - 09 September 2008 06:09 AM

How often are security updates released?

As often as necessary; there is no fixed schedule. That said, EE has been developed with security in mind from the very beginning, so hotfixes are the exception rather than the rule.

I guess it’s the “learning curve” that I’m not willing to put forth if I find repeated software issues and security updates that drain more of my time than it’s worth.

You’ll find it worth it, believe me. (Yes, I am an EL employee, but I have been part of this community for years before becoming one. This is my honest opinion.)

Any discounts for multiple licenses?

Sure:

3+ purchases, 10% off
6+ purchases, 15% off
10+ purchases, 20% off
15+ purchases, 25% off
20+ purchases, 30% off
30+ purchases, 40% off
40+ purchases, 50% off

These are cumulative milestones, so all purchases are added together regardless of when you buy.