Comments on PHPCOW Newssystem?

[EINS]

Hi all,

I found nothing through the forum search. Does someone have experience with www.phpcow.com (http://www.phpcow.com/) ? It has a vbulletin user database integration and, unfortunately, a big price tag ($695). I dream of such a newssystem which is easy to use. I have absoluty no knowledge of php or html. Does someone know somewhat comparable that?s not so expensive?
I didnt buy vbulletin yet, but im shure with it. But i need also a good newssystem, its very important for me. I think vBCMS will also have a good newssystem but it seems it (and the german translation) will not be released in 2004.

Best Regards
Nero

[SaN-DeeP]

www.virtuanews.co.uk is a good alternative and very cheap ;) 60$

[SaN-DeeP]

i just checked phpcow. and i am thrilled :S,
Its soo awesome.

[EINS]

It looks really cool, unfortunately the documentation is only "coming soon"...
And dont forget... The Price :(

[SaN-DeeP]

It looks really cool, unfortunately the documentation is only "coming soon"...
And dont forget... The Price :(
yeah its priced very very heavily........
do you know some websites live in action using the same portal -> phpcow ?

Regards,

[EINS]

No, maybe its to new? :( I just found http://www.newsphp.com. This seems to be similar.

[trainer]

anyone try phpcow? looks good but not sure it isn't just BS

[Gio~Logist]

i got something called cute news, ITS REAL REAL NICE expecially considering its free, it does pretty much the same thing, and it has an admin panel where you can asign people to be journealists, editors, etc. and you can have it show on any page you want and customize it to your benifit easily

[SaN-DeeP]

i got something called cute news, ITS REAL REAL NICE expecially considering its free, it does pretty much the same thing, and it has an admin panel where you can asign people to be journealists, editors, etc. and you can have it show on any page you want and customize it to your benifit easily
There is again a prob, free systems dont come with good technical support, so when you are messed somewhere, you have to wait for hours until someone helps.......

[pressoir]

it's a clone of nephp

[trainer]

it's a clone of nephp


we currently use nephp and i doubt it is a clone of that program because it sucks. the support is non-existant for nephp! the backend and template system is CRAZY with nephp - we don't recommend it to anyone that we talk to. haven't tried phpcow so don't know first hand if it is any good or not but i won't compare anything with nephp

[SaN-DeeP]

No, maybe its to new? :( I just found http://www.newsphp.com. This seems to be similar.
aha even this one seems better, but unluckily its too expensive here
599$ for 2004 pro license.

Those are the most professional templates/designs i am seeking for.

Regards,

[phpcow]

we currently use nephp and i doubt it is a clone of that program because it sucks. the support is non-existant for nephp! the backend and template system is CRAZY with nephp - we don't recommend it to anyone that we talk to. haven't tried phpcow so don't know first hand if it is any good or not but i won't compare anything with nephp

Thanks guys for interest.
For those who wish to get the Free version and try, please check Trial 7 day version. Help is publishedm flash tutorials. demos and customer testimonials. Yes, and the price is much cheaper now than it was. So lots of news.
cheers

Andy
PHPCow.com

[riedel]

try with this

www.subdreamer.com

[netwrk219]

I have phpcow. I am in the process of trying to figure out what it is all about. My first impression is that it isnt what it looks like. The templates are made to look good, but they arent functional. for example. the part of the nytimes template that looks like featured news with four or so thumbnails (one of the band Nirvana) with text underneath them, well, they are just one big image, made to look that way, not editable areas of actual content.

I am having a problem getting their support to explain how the system works, their english isnt the best and they seem to think that because I dont automatically get it, I must be defective. I have had them get noticeably frustrated with me when I ask why this doesnt work well, when I made repeated requests for documentation, i was told to go to the tutorials, which are two flash tutorials, explaining, badly, blocks and one, quite good tutorial for adding an article. but they dont explain editing templates at all, or how to get content to appear where you want it.

Plus, sigh...sorry, but I am beginning to feel like I got ripped off here....plus I did a search on the net and I cant find one actual customer review of their site. i found 4 reviews on hotscripts that were written by the same person, I know this because I cant believe that two people would spell staff incorrectly the same way (they spelled it "stuff") and three of the four said that phpcow...rock! almost exactly the same way.

I am so on the fence about them right now. I want to believe this is going to work out, but unless something is done to make me feel otherwise, I am going to have to look for a new system again. Maybe newsphp.com, but I would need to get extensive information from them before I would hand over any cash at all. I already handed over hundreds to phpcow and as a nonprofit news site, I cant keep losing money that I dont make back, since we dont generate revenue on my site, we just report news.

I hope this helps anyone who has a question and if anyone is familiar with phpcow and can help me figure out what the heck I am supposed ot be doing, I would appreciate it.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Are you using phpcow in combination with vBulletin?

Sorry i can't really help you with phpcow, since i just saw this name for the first time now in this old thread.

If you are looking for a newsfeed solution in combination with vB, then you can do already a lot with out of the box vBulletin by configuring RSS feeds to be shown. There are also a few (free) hacks to be found here at vBulletin.org that will even give you more control over RSS feeds.

If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask.

[netwrk219]

I havent integrated with vbulletin yet, but since the only option they offered for a message board was vbulletin, I came by to check it out and see what was up. Needless to say, I was surprised to see that a package I paid for expected me to pay even more for a bulletin board that they "imdicated" was included. Their advertising that they were fully integrated with vbulletin was misleading.

I like what I see from vbulletin, but am not spending any more money until I can get the site itself to work correctly. Once i get them on the same page, if it ever happens, then I will look into a liscence for vbulletin.

I am still interested in hearing from anyone who has, or has used, phpcow and if they have any hints, tips or tricks for making this software work.

netwrk219

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Lol just checked out the phpcow.com website.

On their frontpage they have 2 featured sites listed to show what their software can do. If you visit the second one (http://www.blackstarnews.com/) you will see in the footer that it is not (anymore?) powered by phpcow anymore:
This site requires FLASH. Best Viewed at 1024x768

Powered by: Digital Sphere Inc.

? 2004 Black Star News Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms and Privacy under which this service is provided to you.

PS On their site they say that they have an integration with vB. They don't say anywahere that vB will be free or included.

Not much help, i know.

[netwrk219]

Hi Marco,

Yeah, I see the two sites that they feature. My problem with it, and I cant believe I still cant get this across, is that they release this software that I paid for and they dont have any users guide like documentation. I dont need to know what the add articles menu will let me do, i need to know how to add articles.

I dont need to know that the general menu on templates allows for customization of the template...I need to know how to customize the template.

Rather than have them explain to me what these things will allow me to do, I want them to explain to me HOW TO DO THEM!!! heh, I got more support and documentation from opensource cms like xaraya, mambo and the nuke clan...and that was a free software. This I paid for an I havent had one day of actual uptime with my site.

Even now, they are supposed to be reloading my site, in an effort to see if they can get rid of the different file not found errors I have been getting...its supposed to be done by the end of their business day....they're 6 hours ahead of me. In the USA, it is 4:45, In Spain, which is where their support is, its 10:45pm and I still have no site.

Again, I want to reiterate that i am not slamming them for fun. I just want what I bought to work properly and i want the documentation that should go with it.

And yes, it says full integration with vbulletin, but:
1. why integrate only with a board system that has to be purchased separately and
2. why not have it included so that I dont need to figure out how to make the integration work. or offer an invisionboardor phpbb board option for their customers...just makes sense to me to do it like that.

Im sorry, but while their software might be interesting to those who can make it work, they need to improve their support section and their non existant documentation.

Hell, Id even write it for them if they would just tell me what to do.

The worst part of all this is, i cant even work with their system in dreamweaver or on my home server. They have Zend technology hiding the code so i cant see the source and figure out what files are missing or corrupt. Im actually helpless until they decide to get this fixed....

I actually posted the errors the site produced in an email and the response I got was along the lines of " yeah, those errors might mean something is missing or corrupt, but i wouldnt know exactly what files or where they are..." --remember, that isnt a quote, its an approximate memory of what they typed. If necessary, I can produce the email to show my meaning.---

They are the support system and they cant look at their own source code and figure out why file A is unable to be called while an undefined error in file B on line36 said blah blah blah....the error tells you most of what you need to know right there. But I dont have access so i cant fix it.

they arent bad guys and I am sure the software is great when you can get it to work. I am not saying dont buy it, I am saying ask questions and be prepared for a rollercoaster ride if you need help.

netwrk219
"Hoping the cow works out, but open to other CMS like it if they work better"

[Marco van Herwaarden]

I can fully understand how frustrated you are with the situation you are in. And even though i think this is usefull information to our members who consider buying this product, i think vbulletin.org is not the right place to vente your feelings about this product.

I like to point out that Jelsoft have no relation (AFAIK) with this product and is not involved in the integration for vBulletin they made.

If you ever might considder buying vBulletin:
- We have both very active professional support, as a very active community giving each other support.
- vBulletin is fully documented: http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/
- Source code is not encrypted by any means.

[Reeve of shinra]

Sorry to hear about your problems... that is quite a chunk of change to toss down on something and not recieve the support you need.

If you ever consider adding a forum to your site, you should deffinitely check out vbulletin. We have a pretty good community here at vbulletin.org and alot of (free) modifications for the board for added functionality that you might need. Alot of us here run our entire sites of the vbulletin "engine".

Anyway, you might also want to check out some places like sitepoint or maybe even slashdot. Both are large communities that may be able to assist you or point you in the right direction. Either way good luck and let us know how things turn out.

[netwrk219]

Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate it.

I apologize for using this as a forum to air my frustrations, but I swear, it was the only place listed in any search engine with people talking about that software.

I do like vbulletin and will definitely consider it in the future. You all might be able to help me in another way. Does anyone know of a CMS software that might help with my needs of publishhing an online newspaper? My two main reqirements are that it be editable and have clearly written documentation.

Again, thanks for the help, sorry if I turned it into my own personal complaint department.

Netwrk219

[sunnyuk]

Hi guys i think you are mistaken. I have phpcow and use it for my site. It is a fantastic system. The support staff is excellent so I don't understand why you guys are cursing them. Ever since I have had phpcow I have had no problems and the support staff and programmers are great.

Whenever I have problems they always assist me and I have not seen a better system than phpcow.

I wish them all the best and I think people against them or haters should just try and come up with a better system, which I'm sure they won't be able to.

Best of luck guys and ignore all the haters. :nervous:

thanks

www.punjabicity.com

[FDX]

All I can tell you is that the people that is writing bad karma about phpcow is missinformed and telling pure nonsense.

We have four sites with phpcow, all working fine and we have excellent support, and we have about 7 hours of difference with London and about 10 with Georgia.
Our sites, www.ehui.com, www.juarezpress.com, www.durangoaldia.com, www.esneta.net are all powered by phpcow. Please visit us and see our engine.

Phpcow is so flexible that we have added our own custom functions to work with other systems.

Please don't be missguided and tryit for yourself.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

i think vbulletin.org is not the right place to vente your feelings about this product.
I think both sites have had their chance to tell how they look upon this product. As stated before, vbulletin.org is not the place to discuss this.

Time to close this discussion.