Bloggers Assail Movable Type's New Pricing Scheme

cioxx writes "An immensely popular weblog publishing tool, Movable Type, has announced a new pricing model based on "support level, number of authors permitted, and the number of weblogs permitted per license". MT3D (Developer Edition) for non-commercial users has drifted away from its full-featured, free predecessor and managed to upset many blog authors whose entry summaries can be seen via the trackback feature originating from the initial MT3D announcement. Is this a case of bait-n-switch, or simply a company trying to capitalize on its dominant market share? WordPress (GPL), which is an equally powerful CMS, seems like a perfect candidate for those who are considering a switch to a non-crippled, free alternative."

Comments

No big deal -- stick with version 2

[crashnbur]

You can upgrade to as high as version 2.66.1, and the new pricing scheme won't affect your Movable Type site. That's what we're doing at Polstate.com.

By the way, shameless plug:

Polstate.com is the Political State Report, a web site held together by contributors from each state (US) who report on grassroots and statewide political news, especially when relevant to local and state elections. We offer a different flavor of political news, distinct from most other blogs and news sites that focus on the Presidency, war on terror, and national economy.

Oh really now

[liquidsin]

Or, we could all just RTFSite, which apparently our dear submitter didn't do, and see that they clearly state that they will still offer a free version. I read the news yesterday (since I've been waiting for the 3.0 release to install it) and was slightly disturbed by the "pricing scheme", but I actually read the whole thing, and it does state that they will still offer a free version (the google cache hasn't been updated since the new stuff has been posted, so it's pretty pointless to check it out).

Re:Oh really now

[Eezy Bordone]

There is a v3 free version for a single author/single blog, this is crippled from their current free version. My current setup wouldn't be able to use the v3 free version, I have two blogs (one is a sub-blog for book reviews) and host two blogs for friends, so have a total of 3 authors. The free version doesn't officially support this. If the Trott's are *wink-wink-nudge-nudging* that people with my type of setup can still run their free software they shouldn't have written their license to specifically forbid it.

That said, it's obvious to anyone with a pair of brain celss that this pricing structure is to make their Typepad service more attractive for casual bloggers and non-techies. If you you're willing to get your elbows dirty you can run a blog on your own machine from home with the free version.

"Mena's Corner" Flooded With Complaints

[hbo]

The post containing the rationale for the licensing change contains hundreds of trackbacks from the MT community. Guess what most of them are saying.

Re:Pass the crack

[levell]

Not only do they still have a free version but also, no-one is forced to upgrade. It seems people aren't interested in whether it's free as in speech but when it's free as in beer, changes in the pricing structure bring bitter recriminations.

It's still free, it's not crippled

[BenHmm]

There's no bait or switch going on here at all. There is still a free version available, it's not crippled in any way:

There is a free version of Movable Type, available on our site, which like all versions of Movable Type consists of the exact same code. There's no crippleware, no nagware. We trust you. We never said this is the last free version of Movable Type.

The only thing this does is a) allow SixApart to eat, and b) allow large corporations to buy MT. I know plenty of organisations that want to use it, but couldn't even look at it until it cost more than nothing. Many procurement processes can't deal with Free.

From backroom hobby to multinational company in three years: Good for them, frankly.

Re:It's still free, it's not crippled

[GeorgeH]

When you say "not crippled in any way" you mean that limiting it to 1 author and 3 blogs is an improvement over the current unlimited authors, unlimited blogs restrictions?

I don't have anything against SA trying to make a living, but they priced me out of the market. I run 3 or 4 blogs with around 10 - 15 users, I earn $0.00 on them and am expected to pay $600 to upgrade to a new version that only offers one new feature (comment management).

Like I said on my site, if they had offered me something that would meet my needs for $40 - $50 I would probably pay up. Instead I'm going to stick with 2.6.

Preaching to the choir.

[pb]

For the K5 members out there, there are more details here--apparently the licensing structure is considered a bit outlandish (for what used to be a free product), perhaps to push their (cheaper) blog webhosting services. But for those outside the "Blogosphere", this will only lead to momentary head-scratching, as to what these crazy kids are talking about now.

Personally, I've been spoiled by /. and K5--I can't stand discussion forums that don't at least have nested comments and a few other basic refinements, and it's even better if they have sane implementations (that don't involve doing O(n) SQL queries recursively to build the list of comments, for example)

Re:Not Bait-n-Switch

[melankolik]

The more people they have using their service, the more it costs to maintain a quality level of service.

Movable Type is a product, not a service. Scalability doesn't come into play here, unless you want to count bandwidth for downloading the source. It doesn't cost them anything extra (again, except bandwidth) to provide something which they have already developed to 10,000 people rather than 100 people.

Another alternative

[Apro im]

Livejournal.org hosts the codebase (GPL'd) used on Livejournal.com and other clone sites.

Good Place To Search For Alternatives

[m_evanchik]

<rant>

http://www.opensourcecms.com/ is a good site to search for alternative weblogs. The nice thing is that they have working demos up that you can access to try out stuff.

The reviews are pretty generic and not much help.

Does anyone know of a good source for reviews on CMS systems?

I also have to question the stats on the link stating moveable type is the most popular weblog. Some prominent blogging software is not counted, such as geeklog, scoop, and (ahem) slashdot.

It's not entirely fair to lambaste moveabletype, they are still offering a non-commercial version of limited capability.

A few weeks ago, when I was evaluating CMS systems, I came across moveable-type, and their lack of a free license is what turned me off. The system that most impressed me was PHPNuke.

My biggest complaint about most of these CMS's are the big holes in documentation.

</rant>

Why your Movable Type blog must die

[heyitsme]

A great article over at the other site:

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/2/2/171117/88 23

Re:RMS talks about free speech........

[Anonymous Coward]

I disagree. I think everyone really wants free as in speech, but thinks free as in beer is the same thing. Real world objects don't come with complex licenses. We've grown up in a world where both "free"s are the same, so few people really understand how and why software is different. I still don't understand why it's different or at least why we accept it that way.

hack it!

[IshanCaspian]

Since MT is written entirely in perl and other non-compiled languages, how hard could it possibly be to hack these limitations out of the free version? I'd bet you just have to comment out a few simple checks, and then distribute a patch...via your blog, of course. :)

Re:hack it!

[hyperizer]

Since MT is written entirely in perl and other non-compiled languages, how hard could it possibly be to hack these limitations out of the free version?

There are no limitations coded in. The license works on the honor system.

Re:Just Switched

[dublin]

I just switched from Movable Type to Text Pattern and I couldn't be happier. It's more CMS like AND easier to use (granted MT was easy to use but Txp feels much smoother). It makes a good separation of content and display and has a few goodies that make this feel natural.

Sounds like you've already got a solution, but others should really consider Blosxom - it's truly free (not just GPL), and in additoin to being really easy to use, has a bunch of advantages, the bidggest of which is that it understands the concept of using a heirarchical file system to organize posts. Blog entries are simply text files thrown into the appropriate directory. Blosxom can also generate pages dynamically, as most blogs do, or statically, allowing batch updates if you want.

It's written in Perl, and has a large and rapidly growing collection of "plug-ins" that extend its functionality, often in ways that is similar to (or sometimes better than Movable Type's. don't be fooled by its simplicity and small size - Blosxom does nearly everything the larger packages do, and is much, much, easier and more flexible than any other blog program I've run across.

Blosxom really is one of the most impressive programs I've seen in some time. It's worth checking out, and should be considered as an alternative to Movable Type, GreyMatter, Blogger, and the rest more often than it is. Fortunately, a growing number of hosting providers offer Blosxom support, since it's so easy and reliable.

Free Software Blog Alternatives

[BrianWCarver]

b2evo This is what I would recommend people check out first.
BBlog (requires PHP version 4.1 or greater & MySQL version 3.23 or greater)
Bit 5 Blog
blosxom (only need ability to run CGI scripts)
drupal.org (mySQL or similar required)
LiveJournal.org
MyPHPblog/Simplog (seems to require MySQL would have to download to be sure.)
Nucleus (requires PHP version 4.0.6 or higher and access to a MySQL database version 3.23.38 or higher)
Pivot (only php required)
pLog (requires PHP 4.1.x or higher and MySQL 3.1.x or higher)
Scoop (requires Apache with mod_perl and mySQL)
TikiWiki (requires PHP 4.1+ and MySQL. Very powerful software.)
WordPress (requires PHP version 4.1 or greater and MySQL version 3.23.23 or greater.)

MT 3.0 only usable on single CPU system

[SteamedPenguin]

All you MT apologists need to check the license and double check your hosting setup. If your hosting provider hosts you on a dual CPU system then you break the license to use MT 3.

Besides, it isn't about the money. It is about the community. MT has quite the devoted community around the and Six Apart pissed on a lot of shoes.

Time will tell if it is worth it, but perhaps Six Apart now wants to get into the commercial CMS business dominated by other, just as crappy, outfits providing 'solutions' that include invalid markup, bad Information Architecture, and outrageous fees.

Count me a very happy WordPress user; the install is simple, no restrictions on use, and it validates. Most importantly though, no more using stupid

to fake paragraphs.

Re:MovableType != Open Source

[HealYourChurchWebSit]

Ummm ... while MT has been 'open code' ... MovableType has NEVER been Open Source ... says so right in their documentation.

Re: Not just the cost

[arc.light]

As I stated here, I paid $150 for a commercial license for MT 2.6. On December 22nd of 2003, a post to MT's site stated:

The next version of Movable Type will be version 3.0, a significant and free upgrade.

And

Movable Type 3.0 will be a free download and upgrade.

It isn't a free upgrade. The promotional price for the cheapest commercial MT license is $199. My earlier purchase of a commercial MT 2.6 license knocks $20 off of that. 6A might think they're going to move us to the presumably more lucrative TypePad hosted service, but many of us are simply going to switch to other software.

- Derek

Just use Drupal

[halfelven]

Just use Drupal instead. Free, powerful, extensible... Oh, and the blogger stuff is just a part of it, it's actually a lot more than that (kinda like a software to build Slashdot type of sites).
I installed it on my server and dumbed it down so only the blog is active, and it's working great.

Moving from MT to WP - A guide.

[2fargon]

If you wanna come to wordpress, you might find this moving guide handy with all the details about what needs to be done before, during and after the move.

Re:I got hit with it too

[Phillup]

The license allows for modification of the code for personal use.

Not for distribution.

I believe that is sufficient for the case of switching vendors. (Which was my point... that switching from MT is easy because of your access to the code and data.)

Re: Not just the cost

[Scalli0n]

It is free, look on the site:
Not willing to pay for Movable Type yet? This fully-functional version of the application is available free of charge. Important limitations of this license include:

* No support from Six Apart
* No access to paid installation service
* No access to fee-based services
* No promotion of your weblogs through the Recently Updated list
* No commercial usage
* No more than one author and three weblogs

Download Movable Type Free.