Mambo is dead…

…here comes Joomla. There was a lot of uncertainty about the future of the Content Management System Mambo over the past months. Finally the Developers now left Mambo and started Joomla. As this article in eWeek points out, "the original owners [Miro], wanted to regain control of the project. The developers, realizing that they were being cut out of executive management, decided to take the code and run…” The outcomes might describe the state of open source today.

1 minute read

September 22, 2005, 1:13 PM PDT

By Ken Snyder


…here comes Joomla. There was a lot of uncertainty about the future of the Content Management System Mambo over the past months. Finally the Developers now left Mambo and started Joomla.



As this article in eWeek points out, "the original owners [Miro], wanted to regain control of the project. The developers, realizing that they were being cut out of executive management, decided to take the code and run…”



The outcomes might describe the state of open source today... [Quote from opensource.org:] "…For twenty years it has been building momentum in the technical cultures that built the Internet and the World Wide Web. Now it's breaking out into the commercial world, and that's changing all the rules. "



The article in eWeek continues "…Open source is all about the Darwinism survival of the fittest program. Since Miro no longer has the developers, it and Mambo will die off. The rebels, since they're the coders, will continue to develop whatever they end up calling their version of Mambo [now Joomla]. Their concerns, once the immediate fuss with Miro is over, will be other open-source CMSes like Typo3 and Drupal, not Miro.



- Chris Haller/Ken Snyder - Orton Family Foundation/PlaceMatters


Ken Snyder

Ken Snyder is Executive Director of PlaceMatters

"Planetizen federal action tracker" logo superimposed over black and white image of US Capitol dome.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

October 28, 2026 - Zachary Whalen

A car drives through a puddle, making a large splash. Rain pours down.

California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour

If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.

October 28, 2026 - Grist

Lake Powell with much of the water evaporated.

Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River

Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.

October 30, 2026 - Yale Environment 360

People vote in Chicago behind blue privacy screens

Chicago voters approve permanent festival grounds, penalty for vacant property owners

Currently, major summer and fall festivals take over public parks for weeks at a time, drawing criticism from nearby residents

45 minutes ago - Block Club Chicago

Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks into a microphone. He wears a gray suit.

NYC votes to cut outdoor dining red tape, speed up permitting

New York City also voted to allow the Department of Transportation to begin work on urgent projects before notifying elected officials.

1 hour ago - The City Reporter

People in Los Angeles going to the polls, following a sign with an "I Voted" design

California appears to reject Prop. 45

The proposition would have expanded the projects that qualify for a streamlined environmental review, effectively paring down the California Environmental Quality Act.

2 hours ago - Cal Matters

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.

Write for Planetizen