Yesterday Water & Stone released the first extensive survey of market share in the open source content management system market. The survey shows that three systems lead the race: WordPress, Joomla! and Drupal. The survey concludes that these three systems have opened up a large lead on the rest of the pack to become the dominant brands in the market. What remains to be seen is which of these three brands will emerge as the leader.

 The first extensive report written on market share in the open source CMS market. Covers 19 of the most popular systems in 50+ pages. Looks at a wide variety of both traditional and Web 2.0 metrics. Useful for anyone looking to commit to a web publishing system.

The author, Ric Shreves, states: "WordPress enjoys great brand strength courtesy of two complimentary offerings: the WordPress CMS and the WordPress hosted blogging service. Nonetheless Joomla! is positioned to challenge for the lead in brand awareness." He added, "Though it might be surprising to some, Drupal is not far behind. The survey showed that in the crucial U.S. market, Drupal is essentially tied with Joomla!"

 Debating the relative popularity of the many open source content management systems provides an endless source of fodder for blogs and discussion forums. People want to know who the market leaders are, not just as an academic exercise but often in an effort to help make informed decisions about product selection. While it would be great to be able to point to one system and say "this CMS is #1," the issue is complex and does not lend itself to a black and white answer.

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