How to rework your Intranet with Manila and Radio. Lot's of people are asking me how they can provide a facelift to their Intranet and/or build an internal K-Log network (with Radio and/or Manila). I thought I would provide some of the information that I get asked often:
Manila ($899 a server — there aren't any per seat or per domain charges) ($299 Academic)
1) Manila can be used to manage a standard informational website on an Intranet. These pages are easily managed through a browser-based WYSIWYG editing tool and management system. So, it is possible to enable authorized content owners with little to no technical training the ability to edit pages they have responsibility for (edit and add text, upload pictures and files, and much more). Additionally, Manila provides out of the box discussion groups, e-mail bulletins, easy theme management, and much more.
2) Manila can also serve an existing site as a static site through its integrated webserver. All you need to do is drop the files into a folder and tell Manila to serve them. Manila can also render pages it creates as static files that are served via the webserver. It is possible to run Apache and Manila on the same server and have Manila send static files to Apache to be served.
3) Manila can serve as a weblog server. Users can easily create personal weblogs using Manila. It can support hundreds of weblogs.
4) Manila can also run a Radio community server and serve those sites statically through its integrated webserver. The Radio community server provides community stats and management functionality that makes running a Radio community easy.
Radio ($39.95 a desktop)
1) Radio provides a way for individuals to publish a personal weblog to a Radio community server running Manila or via FTP to an account on a standard webserver. It also allows individuals to both syndicate their site and subscribe to news.
2) Radio can be used to create directories of resources on a Manila server. It is a very easy process using Radio's outliner. These directories can be linked together easily to create a master directory of resources with subsections managed by different individuals.
Basically, with Manila and Radio it is possible to build a large full featured Intranet on a single server that meets the needs of hundreds of individuals. The two can also be used in concert to quickly build a K-Log network. There is so much more, but this covers the basics. [John Robb's Radio Weblog]