When The Definitive Guide to Plone e first arrived on bookshelves in
2004, Plone 2. 0 had just been released and had little notable open
source competition. The first edition of The Defi- tive Guide e provided
a truly comprehensive overview of the features of this early version of
Plone and brought many new users to Plone. It was a major landmark for
Plone and for open source content management systems (CMSs) in general.
In the intervening years, the open source CMS universe has expanded
rapidly. There are now dozens of competing open source CMSs, from humble
blogging platforms to flexible enterprise-capable systems. Through all
of this, Plone has managed to innovate, expand its vibrant community,
and remain a vital, fl- ible, and popular CMS. Since the publication of
the first edition, the Plone community has produced a number of major
revisions to the Plone CMS. Many new books have been published covering
Plone from different perspectives (developers, administrators, and end
users), but few have provided the comprehensive treatment provided by
this book's first edition. Thankfully, Redomino, a successful Italian
Plone consultancy, has updated The Definitive Guide e so that this
landmark book remains--true to its title--definitive. This updated
volume reflects the many changes to Plone's user interface,
nomenclature, and infrastructure. Redomino has asked me to provide a
brief overview of Plone's recent evolution from the perspective of
someone involved directly in the development and release of Plone during
this period of change.
