Lots of folks are already feeling sour about today’s announcement of the new, for-fee version of Movable Type. But come on, people, it’s quality software. Nothing in life is free. Six Apart can’t give away its software forever. And if we MT supporters want to continue to see this great software improved, of course they’re going to have to make some money along the way. I’d love to drive my car or live in my house for free, but that’s not the way capitalism — so much the foundation of America — works.
I predict that people will grumble about this at first, but Six Apart will continue to thrive and improve its Publishing Platform.
Movable Type 3.0 Developer Edition: “Movable Type 3.0 Developer Edition is finally here, and we’ve got a lot to say about it. Mena’s explained the thinking that went into this new version over at Mena’s Corner, where you can get the full story.”
9 responses so far ↓
1 tubedogg // May 13, 2004 at 11:44 am
I think if you reread some of the entries listed in the trackback section of Mena’s post, you will see it is not about having to pay for the software. It’s the ridiculously overpriced licensing scheme.
I co-own a software company that charges for software. If we didn’t charge, we wouldn’t be able to offer a product. Yet I am still one of the ones who is shocked at many things this morning: the way SixApart handled the introduction of both MT3 and the new licensing scheme, the rhetoric in Mena’s post claiming a “committment” to a free version, just the way this whole thing was handled. They go from essentially apoligizing for a feature-bare 3.0 release a couple weeks ago to charging $100 for a personal site license that can only have up to 3 authors in it. The worst part is that in Mena’s post at the end of April, she specifically said this is not the “fabled MT Pro” release that many have been waiting for. Yet they turn around and charge, for no new features, far more than I think anyone would have expected to pay for the Pro version. Put simply, I literally can’t afford to upgrade my 2-author personal non-commercial site to MT3, and I’m far from the only one. Maybe if it was $20 or $30 or even $50, and maybe if it had some features…but I can’t justify spending $100 that I don’t really have on something that they admit doesn’t really have any new features.
2 gamewhore // May 13, 2004 at 11:48 am
Cross-site comment time
I tried to post this as a comment here but got a server error, so it’s going here instead. Gabe said “But come on, people, it’s quality software. Nothing in life is free. Six Apart can’t give away its software…
3 smeg // May 13, 2004 at 12:02 pm
I don’t think the problem is that its now payware, I think the problem is it’s so expensive, and that this was announced so suddenly, even for us alpha and beta users.
It’s totally not 6A’s style, and has caught plenty of people by suprise
4 gabe // May 13, 2004 at 12:33 pm
Fair enough. Points well taken. I agree that they will face a difficult challenge in going from offering free software to charging quite a bit. Personally, I will likely stick with the free version for which I have donated for a while… until I see some features that I really want – like multiple image upload and handling of mobile photo and email posting….
I also was beta testing 3.0…
5 girlwodner // May 13, 2004 at 2:25 pm
this is a good comment thread. i’d have to say too that it’s not about paying – even though i’m curious as to what all of a sudden merits payment such nothing much as changed, but jsut about the sudden turnaround of it all and the licensing in addition to being befuddling is inane.
6 yasha // May 14, 2004 at 11:36 am
six apart has shown that they dont much care for the community they want to profit from. they should pay more attention to the music industry. you dont kick your customers.
we wont just grumble and keep using movable type. we will stick with 2.661 until wordpress and textpattern and any other options are fully developed enough to surpass movable type and switch to them then.
7 tubedogg // May 14, 2004 at 11:44 am
That’s actually kinda scary to think about…6A taking cues from the RIAA…*shudder*
8 Todd Taylor // May 14, 2004 at 3:46 pm
The big picture here is that the software isn’t that expensive for non-commercial use. C’mon folks.. if it’s software you use EVERY day what’s a small fee to do so? Some things in life must be worth parting with some of your hard-earned cash… If not, why are you working for it in the first place? 😀
9 yasha // May 14, 2004 at 10:59 pm
if you run a non-commerical group blog the fee is about 150 bucks. thats not very inexpensive.