Where  did DotNetNuke begin?

DotNetNuke started it's days as IBuySpy - an open source Content Management System written by Shaun Walker - from Perpetual Motion in Canada.  Shaun had been involved in the writing of an open source product that allowed non savvy people the ability to manage their websites, and provided a platform for developers who were using Microsoft as a development platform, the ability to extend this product further. 

It was the preferred open source project on the asp.net website, a Microsoft resource centre for anyone who works in the Microsoft .NET framework.

Just before Christmas in 2002, DotNetNuke 1.0 was released and an invitation for anyone interested in participating in this project in a group/team environment to express interest and from there the DotNetNuke Core Team began it's days.

There are still some website running DotNetNuke 1 - although the earliest I have heard to date are 1.07 as of January 2005.  And it's a big site, so even back 2 years ago, DotNetNuke was ahead of it's time.

How did DotNetNuke get it's name?

It was, as far as I can see, it took part of it's name from the open source PHP product - PHPNuke - a Linux based, application written in PHP (those who use Microsoft would be familiar with ASP - Active Server Pages)  But using the Microsoft .NET platform it became DotNetNuke. using the full words instead of the .

So DotNetNuke as we know it, began in 2002

The DotNetNuke versions were released over a cycle of about 12 - 15 weeks with 1.0, 1.03, 1.07, 1.10, 1.10e being the main downloads available.  These are not available for download any more and have been retired, but still some sites exist using these builds and have not been upgraded because they still function to their clients requirements. 

Skinning - how was it done in DNN 1?

Initially modifications to the site ascx files to create a nice look and feel.  It took quite some time and then John Mitchell from DotNetNukeSkins.com  had created a fantastic tool to manage your skins via an application he created.  It meant that you could in theory, separate the look and feel from the functionality of the site and was the first step to true skinning.

I was so excited about this prospect. It gave a new dimension to me managing a website without having to modify the main files.  I was excited!  That's how I got my start into skinning, around October, 2003.

DotNetNuke gains popularity

Over time, as per the DotNetNuke path and upgrades, a new era of combining functionality and look and feel was launched. It was, in my opinion, the beginning of DotNetNuke's fast moving popularity with a member ship base of approximately 45,000 in April 2004, to now, January 2005, over 110,000 subscribers. Chances are it could be triple to 130,000 or more within the next 4 months, making it one of the fastest growing interest areas in the development community.

I remember that day it was released - February 14th, 2004, Valentines Day! Yes, the day the DotNetNuke had successfully separated the business side with the creative side and developer and designer could work together.

There were a few glitches in the skinning and not long after, in April, we saw the release of DotNetNuke 2.04. I updated my website to 2.04 and ran with that until late October 2004 where I upgraded to the June 2004 release.

Significant Changes that made a difference

Some of the key elements in DNN 2 were the ability to manually add skins and containers, and extended site logging to monitor performance and functionality of site.

The Users Online module was also part of the core release and has proved to be a popular enhancement to the activity of a website at any given moment.

In the beginning of March 2004, I had created the first Flash Skinned site using a template and from there, found a the perfect career for me.

2.04 also brought out the ability to have nicer looking menus using CSS and using the SolPart Menu written by John Henning from SolPart.com who has worked hard at extending the functionality of the look and feel of a website by enhancing the menu features.

Why so popular?

The uptake of DotNetNuke is in my opinion, and only my opinion, because it could be so easily *skinned* and look great. So for those who were battling discussing the virtues of DotNetNuke through the chunky interface, were able to now link up to nice looking sites which helped sell the concept.

A new breed of developers, some from PHP, some from ASP, some just learning, have come into the DotNetNuke environment bringing in hundreds of thousands of hours of experience, that no company could do single handedly!

And from the coding aspect, just continuing to be a better product all round. Maturing with a handful of experienced developers globally and now, new members to inject further knowledge and talent towards to DotNetNuke 3.

Time for another build and adding new members to the Core Team Group

In June 2004, another release, 2.1.2 which rectified some of the bugs that we will always see in software. It addressed some niggly menu bugs but still a small update was required and is available at Jeremy White's website - http://www.webstone.com. There was a problem with the menu and certain modules and a quick fix was posted within a week or so and addressed it, as did the Clickthrough bug which was also discovered.

June was a busy month with a Skinning Competition and with launch of 2.1.2 and a new environment of developers and graphics people being involved, the type of site appearing was amazing. The skinning competition didn't really generate as many entrants as would liked to have, but in fairness, I think the generation of skinners was very young and there was alot to learn, but it did bring out some great talent.

So for me it was very exciting - I was invited to be a Core Team Member, if not by ability to code, perhaps the skinning knowledge and dang enthusiasm and continued support in the forums may have tipped the scales in my favour. I was very excited and very honored and to this day, still treasure being a core team member.

So the group of people involved in pushing DotNetNuke forward grew from 26 to 40 globally, each with different skill sets and ability to commit time and energy to bring on the next version of DotNetNuke.

This injection of new faces, new resources, new energy really made a huge impact and the step from DotNetNuke 2 to DotNetNuke 3 has been nothing short of amazing. 

A change is here!

There was talk earlier in the year for DotNetNuke to change how it handled it's *providers*. I'm not a coding expert but it did appear to me, that they were expanding the independence of developers to provide their own methods to further enhance the many features in how DotNetNuke works.

Shaun has also worked closely with Microsoft® and the core team has received access to future code being used in Windows® to provide even further enhancements to DotNetNuke and the code methodology.

This change has made what is known as *code breaking changes* to the way modules are handled and their usability in 3. All modules have to be rewritten. This means that for those with DotNetNuke 2 installations, you cannot upgrade to 3 if you use Third Party Modules. That is - Non Standard Modules that come with the standard DotNetNuke Installation.

Developers have had many months notice and support where possible to make it work and we are seeing now, a new range of modules and many existing modules coming through ready for installation.

Without doubt, DotNetNuke 3 has been the biggest how a site is managed, from the clean slick interface, through to the amazing drag and drop containers, extended features on many of the modules, better cross browser compatibility, more intuitive interface.
 
And since the final release of DotNetNuke 3, the uptake has been nothing short of amazing with the response from business, large and small has seen it become a genuine solution for Intranet portals and websites alike.

AspNet 2 Framework & DNN 4

With the release of Microsoft aspNet 2 framework in November, 2005, we saw the release of DotNetNuke 4.0 and a new era was born with DotNetNuke setting the pace being the only aspnet open source project that was running on aspNet 2 framework.

And what does this mean to you.  That all depends on the space you are in.  DotNetNuke has established itself as being the choice of thousands of developers and Microsoft has created perhaps the most exciting developer environment to date.  Microsoft have always been ones to provide great developer tools. Sometimes I think that alone gives them an edge over the other non Windows open source platforms.  Developers want and need great tools to work with.

DotNetNuke 4 opens the doors to new opportunities as it works within the Visual Studio 2005 environment, providing the perfect developing space for the high end developer looking for an excellent starting point to write solutions for their clients.  The committment of the DotNetNuke core team, provides newcomers a variety of builds now to suit their business and developing needs.  The separation of the modules into their own projects now also provides more streamlined development and more participation from DotNetNuke community members who would like to contribute their skills back to the core builds.  While still in need of further polishing and fine tuning, DNN4 has further shown how dynamic and diverse this application is.