While WordPress started out as an easy to use blogging platform, it’s developed into one of the most popular content management systems in the world. It’s popularity is partially due to it’s ease of use – people with little or no HTML or coding knowledge can use WordPress to create a nice website. Of course, power users like WordPress because it’s very capable, because there is a huge development community adding features every day, and because it’s free to use as a development platform.

So, lets pretend for a second that WordPress was a car. What kind of car would it be?

Frankly, no single car comes to mind. The Hyundai line-up is very similar to what WordPress offers in the sense that Hyundai’s are, for a lack of a better word, cheap. Yet Hyundai also sells a full range of vehicles – everything from a little econobox to a $70k+ Genesis sport sedan. So, in a way, WordPress is capable of simple or complex tasks, but it’s always cheap.

Likewise, the Hyundai brand is just now starting to be appreciated by the general public, just as WordPress is just now being seen by the masses as a powerful content management system.

Because WordPress is very easy to tweak and customize, it reminds us of a Scion vehicle. Scion offers dozens of add-ons, all of which are quality Toyota parts and accessories (Scion is owned by Toyota). You can get lowering springs and body kits and custom stereos for your car straight from Scion, just like WordPress users can get numerous templates and plugins to customize their site straight from WordPress.org.

The popularity of WordPress should remind the world of the Volkswagen Beetle (also known as the “Bug”). The Beetle enjoys the honor of being the most produced car in the world, with more than 21 million Bugs sold between 1938 and 2003, all of which used essentially the same design. Not bad, especially considering that the most popular car in North America, the Toyota Camry, sold just a touch over 325k units in 2010. By all accounts, WordPress is the most popular content management system in the world.

The utility of WordPress is pretty dramatic, with everything from mom-and-pop e-commerce sites to large forums to major companies like NBC, Sony, and even the US Army using WordPress to power popular sites like ProFootballTalk, the Playstation blog, and the official US Army blog. Considering all the different ways you can use WordPress, it might appropriate to compare it to the old World War II Willy’s Jeep. The Willy’s did everything from shuttle battlefield commanders around to directing artillery to acting as a light assault vehicle, and both the Willy’s and WordPress answer the call when asked to perform a wide variety of tasks.

Finally, while you might not think it’s smart or interesting to compare WordPress to a car, consider this: legend has it that Microsoft founder Bill Gates once compared his company to General Motors, saying something along the lines of “if GM had advanced their technology as quickly as we [Microsoft] have, we would all be driving cars that got 1,000 mpg and cost $25.” Supposedly, GM replied “if Microsoft built cars, they would all crash three times a day and no one would think anything of it.”

Comparing cars and computer software has a long and proud history – go ahead and submit your own comparison below.

 

Jason Lancaster is a WordPress developer and Internet marketing consultant who writes for Olathe Toyota, which sells Toyota accessories online.