C1 CMS is free open source software running on top of Microsoft’s technology. Being open source means that the entire source code for C1 CMS is available to anyone to scrutinize, change and evolve. This makes the software free – as in freedom. Being based on Microsoft .NET means there's a virtually limitless number of skilled developers out there able to expand and develop upon your C1 CMS-based solution. The combination of free open source software, a strong and flourishing technical foundation and a gigantic developer community makes C1 CMS the obvious choice if you seek to make your CMS-platform independent and future proof.

Open Source projects come in different shapes and sizes – some are downright awful and some have gained world domination within their field. Just as in classical business the primary distinction between the successful and not so successful open source projects is professional organization, innovation and happy customers. If you make a list of the most successful open source projects you will probably find that most, if not all, are backed by a professional organization that is entirely dedicated to the product and its users. At Orckestra we provide this organization for the C1 CMS through program management and teams for core development, package development, testing, documentation and support.

Web Content Management Systems are created, maintained and extended by software and web developers and the ability to attract developers in both quantity and quality is one of the most important success factors for any web CMS. Systems that are open source naturally attract more developers because of professional curiosity and the simple fact that it’s typically free and thus a viable tool in many more situations than an expensive closed source system is. In addition to being open source and free to use C1 CMS is also based on the latest release of the Microsoft .NET Framework which naturally attract skilled .NET developers and at Orckestra we also believe that we have architected a very decent system that skilled developers will be happy to use and extend. Add to this that the C1 CMS platform has free tooling for a versatile developer group including .NET system integrators, ASP.NET developers, the occasional C# developer, XSLT developers, advanced front-end developers and the HTML/CSS dabblers. The combination of free (as in free beer), free (as in freedom), modern, great architecture, a very broad developer reach and the overall high quality of C1 CMS is the best way to rally developers around the platform and this is what makes C1 CMS a future proof platform for both developers and customers.

With C1 CMS we've gone Open Source, all the way. Being distributed under the Mozilla Public License, we bring you the complete and fully featured version of our CMS-platform as Free Open Source at no cost. C1 CMS is not crippled, it’s not limited and you don’t have to buy in to some proprietary license to get the important features. If open source is a ‘political issue’ within your organization or if you want product warranty you have the opportunity to buy C1 CMS under such a license – the code inside is the same as the open source code and you can switch back and forth without ever loosing features. Whether you choose one license or the other all premium offerings like upgrade subscription, support and enterprise features are available to you. All this is what make C1 CMS free – as in freedom.