Black Sheep Research

Martin Brampton has written a next generation CMS called Aliro. It is highly OO and requires PHP version 5. The core of Aliro is a robust application framework. User oriented applications have been adapted from earlier CMS projects, but there is ample scope for new developments. Aliro is designed to aid efficient extension development, and will make further moves to support developers over time. There is much still to be done in the Aliro project, so if you are interested, please visit the Aliro site or the Aliro Forum. Please note that the Aliro forum is manually controlled, so requests for membership may take a little while to be approved. This is to avoid unwanted spam.

There is a new edition of Learning Mambo by Douglas Paterson, aimed at Mambo version 4.6. Martin Brampton has reviewed the new book, and you can find the full review on the Mambo Guru web site. If you've any interest in Mambo, the book is worth a look, but first read the review for a much more detailed appraisal.

Recently, we agreed to rebrand the regular silicon.com column as "The Brampton Factor" and to run it monthly. At the time, I started a blog but later abandoned because of the unwelcome attentions of spammers. Now there is a new blog covering some of my areas of interest. You can find it at http://blog.guru-php.com.

Some past articles from the Devil's Advocate series are

• "Open Source for Government",
• "Ethics before profit",
• "Customer service - an oxymoron?",
• "Google goes head to head with Microsoft",
• "Work is overrated",
• "Should Microsoft be paying you to use Windows?" and
• "Outsourcing lessons".

Black Sheep Research provides a range of services:

• Technical: web related software development with PHP and MySQL or other database. Martin Brampton wrote the bulk of the changes to the Mambo content management system for its 4.6 release, and is also the developer of popular components for Mambo or Joomla!. Martin specialises in the creation and customisation of Mambo/Joomla! or add-ons for those systems.
• Speaking: Martin Brampton is a well known speaker at conferences and other events. He is available for keynote presentations, IT industry analysis or technical reviews
• Writing: Martin Brampton writes a regular column for silicon.com and is also available for other commissions

To discuss our services in more detail, please click on the "Contact Us" menu item.

Remository now has its very own home! Remository is such a good component for Joomla or Mambo - a neat file repository with a good range of functions and an attractive user interface. And now Remository 3.40 is in public beta at the Remository web site! The database tables have been redesigned to improve the flexibility of the code and to make way for new features. WANTED! Beta testers for Remository 3.40 - please download from the Remository site and feed back your experiences. But don't be surprised if there are some bugs at this stage.

The documentation wiki had to be withdrawn because of the actions of link spammers, but I am hoping to provide some alternative soon.

Remository is developed by Black Sheep Research, and support services or customisation are available - contact us to discuss your requirements.

A new dimension to Mambo support! The creation of the Mambo Guru web facilities marks a new level of Mambo related information services. The main site is an anchor and contains carefully researched FAQ, files for downloads, news and general documents relating to Mambo.