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May 13, 2004

Evolve

We all knew this was coming, right? Movable Type was too popular — and frankly, too good — to remain free forever.

Tim Appnel nails it: MT 3.0 is for developers and larger organizations, and not for the casual blogger. I’d agree that new restrictions on number of weblogs/authors is arguably a downgrade for existing MT users. It’s a shame that MT 2.x and not 3.0 is the end of the free ride.

But, whatever. When I donated a few years ago, I gave way more than the $70 personal license fee they’re asking for now. I think I got every penny’s worth, and then some. I doubt there’s much more I could possibly want from a weblogging tool.

As to the much-ballyhooed mass exodus of indignant MT users, I offer this ancedote:

I saw Ani DiFranco speak at SXSW this year, and she mentioned something worth repeating. Or, worth paraphrasing.

When it first became known that the openly bisexual DiFranco had gotten married to a man(!!!), there was more than a bit of shock and outrage from the core of fans that regarded her as a spokesperson for gay youth.

When asked about how this affected her, Ani admitted that although the majority of the fan response was supportive, there was still the ocassional sting of invective: traitor, liar, et cetera. In the end she shrugged it off, saying “at some point you’ve got to let that go, and focus on the people still in the room.”

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And tubedogg did speak thusly:

SixApart would do well to pay attention to the users who are still in the room but *will* be exiting if this licensing sticks.

I donated back during MT 2.x as well. I also have been a big MT fan, recommending them to lots of people. I am directly responsible for at least two people I know using MT instead of something else. And yet, for my loyalty, they introduce a new overpriced pricing scheme at the same time they offer up a new feature-bare release?

It smacks of greed. $100 for my site with 2 authors, where we get maybe 10 visitors a day if we’re lucky? I could see $30, maybe $50, though I think that might be pushing it a bit…but $100?
And scottandrew did speak thusly:

Oh, I have no doubt 6A is listening. They can’t sneeze without sending ripples through the blogosphere. I wouldn’t be suprised if they end up relaxing the authors/weblogs restrictions a bit.

But if it’s truly as feature-bare as you’ve described, why not stay on MT 2.x? Granted, I haven’t seen the insides of 3.0, so I don’t know what I’m missing.
And tubedogg did speak thusly:

I do plan to stay on 2.x, or possibly move to WordPress or b2evolution (which I’ve just found but looks like MT2 on steroids).

The feature-bare thing isn’t my say-so - it’s theirs: http://www.sixapart.com/corner/archives/2004/04/wheres_the_beef.shtml Granted, “feature-bare” isn’t how they’d describe it, and supposedly there are some improvements under the hood, but the time to introduce pricey new schemes is when you have something to point to and say “Look! A shiny object!”, not when you’ve just practically apologized for the lack of features in the new release (as Mena did in the post linked above).
And Phil Ringnalda did speak thusly:

I’m a little worried about how many people I’ve seen saying “just stay on 2.6 if you don’t like the 3.0 terms” today.

I have an old Windows 98 box that doesn’t have what it takes to run any newer OS, but does what I need from it. I thought I was going to have to scrap it when they end-of-lifed 98 and weren’t going to do even security updates, but now I’ve gotten a bit more use out of it.

Do you think 6A will do free security updates to 2.x?
And tubedogg did speak thusly:

Maybe I’m a little pessimistic but I think the next time a security vulnerability is found in 2.x, the answer is going to be “upgrade to MT3″.
And Sparticus did speak thusly:

I’m sure someone clever will hack the code though and fix it. The movabletype geeks do seem to all be geniuses.
And scottandrew did speak thusly:

> Do you think 6A will do free security updates to 2.x?

Dunno. I was in the same boat you’ve described. Until a week or so ago, my main machine at home was a Win98 box. The features and security improvements of Win2K over Win98 were simply not enough to sway me to upgrade earlier. I’m kind of facing the same thing with MT 3.0. (Kinda ironic, considering my whole “upgrade your browser!” thing, huh?)

Now that I’ve read some more opinions, I think I understand a bit more. It looks like 6A didn’t do an effective job of managing user expectations, promising a free version of 3.0 but neglecting to emphasize the usage restrictions on it. More people seem to be upset about the weblogs/authors restrictions on the free version than the fact that they’re charging at all.
And Muskie McKay did speak thusly:

I’m just been researching the various blog programs recently when I came accross this issue. For a new user starting a blog with MoveableType this seems to be a hardship. So I checked around at the few blogs I link to and presumeably read once in a blue moon and found one stay at 2.6 (here) and one changing to WordPress (at DiveIntoMark).

I’m thinking of going with an open source PHP based solution which is what WordPress is but I’ve only just begun my research.

Muskie
And scottandrew did speak thusly:

Yeah, I saw that post at Mark’s site. If you buy into the Free Software + Open Source philosophy his position is pretty much unassailable.

Me, I’m done being a power user of MT. My version is suitably hacked to fit my purposes, and none of the improvements of MT 3.0 thrill me enough to upgrade. I’ve reached that “good enough” plateau, and that’s why I’m happy to stay on 2.6x.
And Tina Vance did speak thusly:

I was just getting ready to install Movabletype at work as a sort of collective blog on technology for my co-workers. Then I found out that MT would be charging per author, which totally snuffed it for my office. I work at a university. Funds are tight and actually fairly non-existant for “experimental” stuff such as blogging, so MT went out the window as an option.

I think the biggest kick in the face of all of this is that there was no advance notice that MT would no longer be free *and* that the number of users would be extremely limited.

For now we’re going with pLog (http://www.plogworld.org).
And Glenn McGaha Miller did speak thusly:

I’m such a slave to consistency and an “integrated” life: Doesn’t it strike anyone else out there that an open blogging platform… say “WordPress” for example is much more in keeping with the “spirit” of the whole “blogging revelution”. Its not something I thought about much in my years with MovableType, but as I begin to explore and become part of the newly emerging “WordPress community”, its like a breath of fresh air after leaving a stuffy building… and I don’t even know PHP… yet.