Open source content management system (CMS) Drupal, is gaining many new types of users, but, as I've noted before, publishers, in particular, should look into it due to the cost savings that it offers over proprietary publishing systems. Part of my conviction on that front comes from the fact that OStatic runs on Drupal, as do publications such as InfoWorld, The Onion, and FastCompany. Now there are some interesting data points on Drupal trickling in from publishers using Drupal, and publishing industry analysts. 

Open source content management software applications have really blossomed in recent years, and I've written before about how a lot of companies and online publications are bound to switch to them, instead of expensive proprietary alternatives. Today, there is an updated version 4.1 of Magnolia available for download, and the long-standing open source content management platform now has pre-built templates that aim to make it easier for companies to share and publish everything from event calendars, to glossaries, to online forums.

We've written before about the projection that Drupal, the powerful open source content management system (CMS), may run more than 240,000 sites on the web by January of next year. OStatic runs on Drupal, as do many other well-known sites, including The Onion and Fast Company. Dries Buytaert, founder of Drupal, has a post up on how Zappos, an e-commerce web site with more than $1 billion in annual revenues, is using Drupal. The Drupal.org site also has a case study up about how Zappos uses Drupal, which illustrates how flexible a platform it really is, and provides a lesson in how many sites using expensive proprietary CMS solutions could gradually transition to the many open source alternatives.