Similarities Between Revit and Joomla!

Differences First:
Name: Revit/Joomla
Purpose: BIM/CMS
License: Strictly Commercial/OS
Easily-Extensible: No/Yes
Cost: 1700$/seat?/Free!

Here are just a few thought-provoking ways in which these two seemingly foreign bits of code really do the same thing (open your mind up real wide now)...

Both systems are used to structure content for organized combination and customization. Content could be information about an event, a company, a chair, a roof material...its all content.

Both systems make use of a central database from which records are pulled and combined in the assembly of, on one hand, building component representations, and on the other, text, code, links, and images.

These "elements" and "articles" are inevitably combined with others, either in shared or different "families" and "categories."

Projects are pulled together when a small subset of technical professionals within their fields arrange the fore-mentioned object hierarchy into preloaded or custom views from which the end use is derived. With Revit: a set of construction documents and visualizations. With Joomla: perhaps an e-storefront, blog, or a unique application for the web or locally.

Other shared parameters:

Both agilely facilitate collaborate and have built-in user access controls to manage which section of the "build/ing" is being edited at any one time.

Both projects were "forked."

Both have a vibrant community of users, supporters, resources, message-boards, etc.

Disclaimer...the differences are magnanimous and cannot be overlooked. *Autodesk* is an industry-leading/dominating behemoth in the US and *Open Source Matters* is a non-profit, shadowy yet benevolent organization, most likely based in Europe, where Joomla! has its best market penetration amongst CMSers.