Talking about the facts, not all the organization and people run their server under Unix/Linux. In fact a large number of organization/entity prefers windows based server for their hosting solution. Anyway our discussion is not about argument whether to choose Linux/Unix or Windows based server. So what are the blog publishing software/applications for those who seeks windows server based self hosted solution? That’s what we are going to discuss. We all know there are huge arrays of open-source blog publishing application out there, as well as enterprise class self-hosted solutions, but unfortunately very few of them can be hosted on a windows server.
So today’s picks for blogging software/application based on Microsoft windows server-
BlogEngine.NET
Type: Open Source
License: Microsoft Permissive License
System Requirements: ASP.NET 2.0
BlogEngine.NET is one of the finest blogging platform forged in ASP.NET 2.0. The coolest part is not too many MS technology based blogging engine you will find that is open source. It’s cool not just because it’s free and based on ASP.NET 2.0, but for ability to support multiple microformats (xFolk, Rel-Tag, Microsummary, XFN, XOXO, rel-home, rel-directory, rel-enclosure) and tons of high-end features. BlogEngine.NET is very surprisingly easy to setup and customize, just upload the installation folders/files to an ASP.NET 2.0 server and you are good to go.
BlogEngine.NET comes with all the hot-shot features you expect from a Web 2.0 standard blogging engine; in addition it does have some unique perks. A very warm commenting system in AJAX that supports country flags, live preview, Gravatars, coComments – all of which can easily be modified in the admin section.
All the controls in BlogEngine.NET are 100% XHTML 1.0 compliant. All posts you write automatically become compliant (well most of it). BlogEngine.NET can generate static page which can be set as homepage, multiple author support, built in tag supports, contact form attachments, combined blog-pages-comment searching capabilities are just a few niche perks to mention. Another perks that will be loved by most geek blogger is code syntax highlighting supporting- C#, Java, VB.NET, HTML, Javascript and T-SQL. You can set user role easily via admin panel, search term highlighting is another cool feature I have been seeking for a long time.
No matter how cool BlogEngine.NET is but still lacking lots of features that high-end blog users demands. For example- Post Moderation, Password protected post, Gallery, Cross-post, blog by email, subcategories, multilingual etc. Another limitation that hit my mind is the limitation of import and export methods (currently only supports BlogML and RSS), which makes it a more like a boxed in system rather than open system. Code editing on the fly like WordPress is missing, easy switch between code view and WYSIWYG editing view as well.
May be in time BlogEngine developers will come with these missing useful features, which will give them the edge to survive in blog engine wars. Regardless of few drawbacks BlogEngine.NET is an excellent choice for windows based blogging solution for those who prefer open source, free solution.
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I’m the founder of BlogEngine.NET and just wanted to thank you for a nice and objective post. I find the part about the limitations for the import/export very interesting, but I don’t quite understand why it is a limitation. You can make a full backup of your entire blog by exporting it to BlogML which is supported by more and more blog platforms. When you import, you can use either a BlogML file or a RSS/ATOM feed. How is that a limitation and what do you think we must do to improve it?
Thanks Mads BlogEngine.NET deserves and could use that bit of spotlight/attention, I guess.
Regarding the Import/export limitation that I mentioned-
BlogML- It’s a new method which is supported by newer platforms (Most .NET blogging tools), but a lot older, yet popular platforms do not support that. You can see the list here http://blogml.org/, though i know it isn’t complete. So that means if someone wants’ to switch from those platforms to BlogEngine.NET(or vice versa) have only one option left-RSS/ATOM feed.
RSS/ATOM feed-Problem with this method is, a given time RSS/atom feed only hold the most recent posts/articles, most naturally not the static pages or past articles. So importing from RSS/ATOM feed is partial not complete.
Suggestion to improve- Perhaps some custom import as well as export options for popular blog platforms that do not support BlogML, a plain xml import/export option (Which is very useful and almost universal) would make it much easier.
Thanks for you reply. We are planning to use the MetaWeblog API to retrieve old posts to import them into BlogEngine. That would cover almost every blog platform on the market. We just need to build it and it takes a lot of time. Thanks again.
No problem at all Mads, it’s been a pleaser.
Metaweblog API is an excellent idea I forgot to mention earlier, this will also allow the desktop clients like windows live writer to be used with BlogENgine.NET.
Yep I do understand the prolonged development time, especially when it’s an open source project.
You misunderstood. BlogEngine does have a MetaWeblog API and works perfectly with Windows Live Writer. We’re actually using a manifest file to make that experience even greater.
No, what I meant was using the MetaWeblog API of other blog platforms to import posts into BlogEngine when migrating. That way you can use BlogML, RSS and your existing blog’s MetaWeblog API as a means of export.
My apology. Sorry for misunderstanding. I just read your codeplex regarding that
very interesting blog site. thanks for sharing.