No, it wasn't
The now-redacted ending snarky comment in previous entry actually linked to the MovableType 3.0 announcement, thank you very much.
Having read some of the trackbacks to Mena's announcement, I decided to remove it so as not to get lumped in with the idiots.
I bought a license for the current version (or rather, donated and received a license), and plan to get one for the 3.0 release. Seems only fair.
And I'd prefer if the cheap bastards who don't want to pay for things would just up and say, "I'm a cheap bastard who doesn't want to pay for things," rather than delusionally taking some moral high ground. Then again, I'd prefer if people who don't want to be shot at would would admit that, rather than babbling about how a draft violates their deeply-held libertarian views.
There's nothing wrong with not wanting to be shot at. Can't say I enjoyed it myself.
Being a cheap bastard, well, the phrasing sort-of implies a moral judgement, doesn't it?
Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who donated to the developer of BitTorrent, but uses the program for the odd copyright violation. I don't even bother trying to reconcile that. . .
At any rate, there's still going to be a free version of MT, so quit your whining. Or, as noted at Slashdot, there's always WordPress or any of a number of alternatives.
Some people would rather switch than bit-- complain excessively.
And list valid reasons for doing so, causing me to rethink my position somewhat. I hate when that happens.
Update: Bugger. Michelle (and the folks in her comments) are being all sensible and stuff too. Meaning more rethinking and possible disavowing of previous statements in this entry. I really hate when that happens.
Update 2: Oh, for Mike's sake.
The long version: MT-Blacklist/Comment Spam Clearinghouse: The Collective Deep Breath.
The short version: alaina is: sweet and sour: Dear Blogosphere
My name's Bennet, and I ain't in it.
Comments
I'd have been willing to pay another $100 or so (after the $100 we donated back in 2002), but Jeebus H. Criminy on a pogo stick, when a $700 commercial license isn't enough for what I run--which ain't that much, thanks, except for the *20 gamers* who post *two or three times a year* to gaming blogs--they've miscalculated their pricing model. Not to mention the whole "dead author" issue, or the single-CPU thing. How many CPUs are there in the machine you run this blog on?
If I'd had warning that the per-seat model was the way they meant to go on the pricing stuff, I'd have already switched to another tool. I don't begrudge them the money, but I don't like having the rug jerked out from under me.
Posted by: Ginger | May 14, 2004 1:49 PM
Oh, and sweetie, while I'm being obnoxious about the license, I should also mention that it bans guest logins. All logins are supposed to be single-user. That kills the Friday thing you've been doing.
Posted by: Ginger | May 14, 2004 1:58 PM
I think there are better ways to go about getting more money for business applications than to charge everyone the same price, regardless of application. The randomwalks folks are probably going to stay with MT, but I host like 15 or so blogs at fullbleed.net, and none of them are moneymaking schemes. I doubt that any of them cause any trouble to the folks at six apart, either. It doesn't make any sense to, as ginger says, "yank the rug out" from under that community...
sigh.
Posted by: drublood | May 14, 2004 2:00 PM
Well, I'm a cheap bastard who would have been willing to pony up $20 or $30, no sweat. I donated for my keys, after all. But $60? $70? Not so thrilled, not anymore. --And that does nothing for all those superstar group blogs out there, like Crooked Timber and the Panda's Thumb, who would have to pony up $700 for their academic sidelines. (Sure, they can farm out the cost, but Jaysus. Whoops: Panda's Thumb would have to cut five authors from their masthead. Never mind.)
I don't have the figures in front of me, but I imagine they would have made more revenue off a $30 personal license than they will off a $70 license. (Do I know what that would have done in terms of support costs? Nope. No figures, after all.) That, combined with the head-smacking "D'oh" on screwing the group blogs, says to me:
Whichever, that's plenty enough cause for a little sturm und drang.
But only a little: 2.661 still works fine, and us cheap bastards have other options out there that still work on the community-and-donations model. (And, one imagines, quite a few more will pop up now.) --Time and effort will be necessary, but I know how to spit into the palms of my hands, at least.
Posted by: Kip Manley | May 14, 2004 2:27 PM
Reading this here MeFi thread now; Anil Dash is fielding questions. Or correcting misinformation. Or providing information to people who jumped to conclusions based on speculation. Or something.
I confess, I hadn't thought about the group blog or FFAF implications.
Ah well, always best to have a backup plan. Or two.
Posted by: Aaron | May 14, 2004 6:09 PM
I moved to WordPress a few months ago, and it was the best thing that happened to my blog. I wrote a How To move from Movable Type to WordPress over at my blog, which might be of interest to you.
WordPress lets me do everything MT did, and the support and user community positively rock!
Posted by: Carthik | May 14, 2004 9:30 PM