Magento sucks!

January 2nd, 2010

Of course the title of this article was chosen to shock the believers. But I think we are at a point in time comparable to when the only car on the market was a Ford Model-T. You could complain that it sucked, but pretty much the only alternative was a horse and carriage, and you didn't have to scoop any steaming piles if you went with the automobile.

The way I see it is that the balance of power about who decides what E-commerce software to use has shifted. In the "old" days, a web-construction company would get the job of building a shop. A developer would be given some requirements, and he would suggest software A or B, and marketing would get the finished product and bitch about the poor SEO options available to them. Now with Magento all SEO options are available out-of-the-box, so obviously marketing would prefer Magento...

...and since marketeers are generally better at promoting an idea than developers - the developement team is no longer part of the decision making process. A lot of good marketeers have put Magento out there as the only real option for an e-commerce site and now customers are coming in the door saying "We want Magento". I've never had a customer come in and say "We ABSOLUTELY want OS-Commerce!"

Now I'm not saying Magento is bad - it does absolutely blow the competition out of the water. But there are at least some problems at design level that will get many developers and shop-owners alike weeping like little children in a corner, whispering "magento... magento... magento.." incessantly while pulling out the their remaining hair.

The only winners will be the Marketeers - but then, they've never lost, have they...

Ramon de la Fuente

Pointy haired boss