The Net has always had a sense about it that “the best things in life are free.” Looking for a utility, a program, a way of doing things? It’s probably out there as freeware (or, short of that, shareware that you can just get nagged about until your conscience tells you to pay for it). Or, failing that, something is probably available that’s cheap, cheap, cheap. There have been a tremendous number of incredible bargains out there, such that people expect things to always be that way.<\/p>\n
Which is why this <\/a>is going to raise a huge stink<\/a>, despite efforts <\/a>to make it seem okay. <\/p>\n Basically, here are your New, Improved Licensing (!) choices for Movable Type:<\/p>\n Ouch. And, again, ouch.<\/p>\n Lots of developer-related bits ( I’m sure there will be a lot of second- and third-guessing of Six Apart’s motivations in this, and a lot of cries of betrayal and outrage. The fact is, though, this has to be a paying deal for 6A, and expecting continued, substantial development for free was probably an unreasonable expectation. MT is an increasingly powerful tool, and to make a go of it in the commercial market (a necessity), it was almost inevitable that some sort of licensing was going to be imposed.<\/p>\n That said, my days on MT are thus numbered.<\/p>\n The fact is, I have more than three blogs. Some are moribund, some are only occasionally updated, and some should definitely be moved over (as I, ironically, noted yesterday) to wikis. I also have more than one author (at a minimum, Margie’s recipe blog and my personal blog make two authors; if I want folks to contribute to the IDC blog, that’s another five beyond that).<\/p>\n In fact, beyond the limited number of blogs, it’s probably the limits on authors (and, thus, collaboration) that’s the more significant limitation, for the blogosphere as a whole, if not for me personally.<\/p>\n So, time to start looking for an alternative. Which well and truly sucks, to be perfectly honest. The search doesn’t have to be fast — MT 2.661 is pretty stable, so there’s no immediate rush to get to 3.0 (or to something else). Conversion of the databases will be almost certainly the biggest hassle. Fortunately, there will certainly be others looking at alternatives, and I won’t be ashamed to look at their efforts for inspiration. Certainly any system that lets you suck in your MT data will get a big leg up.<\/p>\n As for others, I expect to see a general migration away from MT, even as it (deservedly) makes corporate inroads (or gets bought out by someone). I’m sure some people will give TypePad another look, or similar services. The fact is, most serious bloggers need more than the limits of the free license, and most casual bloggers need something a lot easier than MT (and will not have the 6A or community support for its installation and support).<\/p>\n (While I acknowledge the likely need to go to a pay system, I think the pricing structure is ill-advised, at best. Most personal users will not pony up $100 — for how long? — for a personal license that is so limited. Heck, I’m not sure how many companies <\/a>will pony up the corporate prices, either.)<\/p>\n I don’t know. It may well be that once the inevitable howls die down, something else will change. But, for the moment, I think 6A has made a sadly inevitable move that will hopefully net it some strong corporate support, even as it cuts off its grass roots ties.<\/p>\n UPDATE<\/u>: Additional <\/a>howls<\/a> and <\/a>cries<\/a> and moans<\/a>. And, I’m told, the MT Forums and the trackbacks to the Mena post <\/a>above are both full of not very complimentary comments. Not surprisingly, I can’t get to movabletype.com or sixapart.com right now. Traffic, much?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Net has always had a sense about it that “the best things in life are free.” Looking for a utility, a program, a way of doing things? 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This means you can freely modify, redistribute, and use Movable Type for any purpose you choose....","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging & Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging & Internet","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging"},"img":{"alt_text":"mt4-bug-mt-white.png","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.movabletype.org\/mt4-bug-mt-white.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8420,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/11\/22\/looking_sharp.html","url_meta":{"origin":6133,"position":3},"title":"Looking Sharp","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 22-Nov-05 10:43am","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been using the new 3.0 version of SharpMT for a few weeks now, and it appears to be rock solid. It remains my client of choice for Movable Type...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging & Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging & Internet","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11489,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/08\/15\/mt4_ahoy.html","url_meta":{"origin":6133,"position":4},"title":"MT4 Ahoy!","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 15-Aug-07 6:03pm","format":false,"excerpt":"SixApart has released Movable Type 4.0, and folks seem to be pretty enthusiastic about what it finally brings to the table. For myself, I don't expect I'll be hopping...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging & Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging & Internet","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10076,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/09\/08\/admin_wannabes_at_work.html","url_meta":{"origin":6133,"position":5},"title":"Admin Wannabes at Work …","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 8-Sep-06 2:50pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Upgrading Movable Type. 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which will also be a pay network, and may not be accessible to “free” users<\/s> [my mistake<\/a>]), lots of opening up to allow more commercial use, consultant support, product integration stuff … but, ouch.<\/p>\n