DNN Platform (DotNetNuke) Definition
DNN Platform, formerly called DotNetNuke Community Edition, is a free, open source content management system (CMS).
The DNN Platform is built on the .NET framework and is designed to be easy to use, without requiring extensive programming knowledge. Features of the DNN Platform include design skins that allow the appearance of a website to be changed easily and the ability to incorporate third-party modules to add additional functionalities. Because the CMS supports multi-tenancy, multiple sites can be built on the same architecture.
The DNN platform was originally based on IBuySpy Workshop, a program created by Shaun Walker as an extension to Microsoft’sopen source IBuySpy Portal. IBuySpy Portal, built on .NET Framework 1.0, was a reference application for building sites and applications using ASP.NET. In 2003, version 1.0.5 of iBuySpy Workshop was rebranded as DotNetNuke.
Other early versions of DotNetNuke included:
- DotNetNuke 2.0, released March 2004
- DotNetNuke 3.0, released March 2005
- DotNetNuke 4.0, released November 2005, which moved DotNetNuke from ASP.NET 1.1 to ASP.NET 2.0
- DotNetNuke 5.0, released December 2008
In September 2006, Walker co-founded DotNetNuke Corporation with Scott Willhite, Joe Brinkman and Nik Kalyani. In 2009, DotNetNuke Corporation launched DotNetNuke Professional Edition, a commercial version of the CMS. DotNetNuke Professional Edition included customer support provided by DotNetNuke Corporation, along with features not available in the open source software.
In July 2013, the company and the open source project were rebranded. DotNetNuke Corporation became DNN Corp. and DotNetNuke Community Edition took on its current name, DNN Platform. The DotNetNuke Professional Edition was rebranded and is now called Evoq Content. DNN Corporation continues to be the steward of the DNN Platform open source software project and sells the Evoq line of CMS products.