No one has to use google and when you chose to then you should be aware your data is going to be on their servers. Personally I do not enter personal information.

I work for a company that provides Business Intelligence services. While we are all highly competent IT professionals none of us are developers. Using Drupal we have been able to set up our knowledgebase and task tracking system mainly using CCK and Views modules.

The point I am trying to make is for individuals like you who can write code, do write your code. But if your core business is not writing code and you need to create some sort of web application without having to learn to code then a CMS is a good idea.

I am not sure on my own with my limited knowledge of PHP (and limited time) if I could create something more secure than Drupal.

I am doing a study trying to find the most cost effective method to develop small in house systems. I am leaning towards using an Open Source Software (OSS) Content Management System (CMS) type of architecture. Here is why:

By nature OSS is modular; the core system is supplemented by third party modules. Through OSS methodology iterative refinements these modules soon become pretty nifty and are able to fill most usersâ(TM) requirements. Letâ(TM)s take Drupal for instance and some of the key modules:

CCK - allows user to define different types of content. This is done through a user interface and content fields range from numbers to complex data matrix fields. There are also field to reference users and other nodes hence the ability to create relationships between content and users.

Views - allows you to create views of the current content created using CCK. A view is a selection of the fields you would like to display. Filters can be applied on the fields and dynamic filters such as "Logged in user" are available.

Panels - allow you to create custom content displays. This is similar to web applications that allow you to place different widgets in different locations. In this case the widgets can be views or content or other types of content.

Workflow and Actions - allows you to define a workflow for each content type. Action is the action to be executed when an item reaches a workflow stage.

So for example an application to store a list of employees will typically be structured thus:
  CCK - Employee
  Fields - Name->Text, DOB->Date, Manager->User Reference, Address->Address Field...
  Workflow - Start->
  Views - Employees by Manager, Employees I manage ....

For a task list the structure will be thus:
  CCK - Task
  Fields - Requested By -> User Reference, Date Requested -> Date, Assigned -> User Reference
  Workflow - Assigned, UAT, Complete

I would go on but I think Slashdotters are bright enough to catch to work out the rest

Worthy modules bubble to the top and talented developers chip in and enhance these modules. The users provide testing.

Off course there will always be situations when you will need to write some code but it should not be for every web system if using Drupal. Besides custom code requires too much maintenance.

http://mahalasoft.co.za/ for a survey on Drupal