MT3? Nah. Not Yet.
Posted May 13th, 2004 @ 11:58am by Erik J. Barzeski
So MovableType 3 is out. I have two concerns:
- Pricing: it's now $69.95 at least. I only run one blog, dammit, and I gave them $50 over a year ago, and now I still have to pay another $25?
- Plugins: I use MT-Macro, MT-Blacklist, and MT-Timer. That's it. Yet I see no mention of how to upgrade.
The only thing that I think I might have to upgrade in my templates is the comment section of the individual page archive to use the new TypeKey thing. But where are these instructions? Do I get them if I fork over $24.95? I don't know.
So, for today, given that I a) resent having to pay more, b) am not sure my plugins will work, and c) am not sure what other work I might have to do, I am not upgrading to MovableType 3.0. Maybe another day when I feel like wasting six hours for, what, TypeKey and a new admin area?
Donate Life
Posted 13 May 2004 at 12:02pm #
It's all about the money. Really. I mean, now that they're a business and not just making a weblog software package on the side it's all about how much they can rip you for so that they can get some income. TypePad for the hosted sites and then a larger ripping if you want to run it yourself. It's crazy.
Posted 13 May 2004 at 12:12pm #
Have you ever tried TextPattern? It has some movabletype importing abilities, is fast, easy to install, and is simply beautiful.
http://www.textpattern.com
It seems to be gaining some traction.
Posted 13 May 2004 at 12:21pm #
There is still a free version of MT... It's on the bottom of the right column on the buy page... It took me like 5 minutes to find it. They hide it pretty well, like the free Real Player link... But you are limited to one user and three weblogs now, with the free version.
I've been using the ExpressionEngine lately and it is really great. I wouldn't use it for my personal blog, but if you need a CMS it's a great deal. And it's the same price as only a 5 user license of the new and underwhelming MT 3.0. EE smokes MT in pretty much every area. The only thing MT had going for it in comparison in the past was that it was free... But now they lost that, so... Not much left.
Posted 13 May 2004 at 12:21pm #
MovableType 3.0
SixApart has finally released Movable Type 3.0, no wait that was the Developer Edition. My inital reaction is, much displeasure....
Posted 13 May 2004 at 12:31pm #
I switched to Textpattern two months ago and haven't looked back. And on that note, I should really write about my impressions...
Posted 13 May 2004 at 12:43pm #
I just got MT3 Free Edition installed, the only thing readily apparent is the better looking admin area. There's some changes in the config area for TypeKey and a few other little things. Things seem to rebuild much faster. There's something that it does with background processes to speed things up, don't know much more than that though. My plugins all seem to work fine, however I don't use Timer. Macro seems to work for my smilies. Blacklist hasn't been tested yet, but everything I can think of works. I'm not fond of the pricing. $70 for a better interface and TypeKey, but with restrictions that didn't used to exist? And the support is useless to me. Maybe if there were some new features, but at this point, I don't think I'll be forking up the money.
Posted 13 May 2004 at 1:08pm #
1) I beta tested (and alpha tested) MT3. I know what it is/does/etc. However, I did it on a clean site (http://techstra.net/) and didn't worry about importing old data.
2) I've looked at EE and it's overkill.
3) I've got an existing site with existing URLs, so blogging packages that can't just use these URLs are not even on my list. Textpattern may be nice if you're starting out, but it can't give me URLs like I have now.
Posted 13 May 2004 at 2:48pm #
I just listened to an interview with Ben and Mena, and they were saying that donations made up to 3 years ago can be put toward a MT3 "license". It's not about the money. When it was just the two of them, they were fine living on just donations (average donation per download is something like 35 cents) - but now that they have employees to feed, they can't sustain a company with that.
There will always be a fully functional free version, and even the "non-free" versions are based on the honour system (whatever that means... no serial numbers?)
Posted 13 May 2004 at 3:52pm #
Maybe I read that wrong... $70-$50 = $20. And well there is a free version too.
Posted 13 May 2004 at 4:24pm #
You didn't read it wrong. I got two keys. The first counts for $20, the second for $25, meaning I get to apply only $45 out of the $50 I donated. All keys beyond the second count for $20.
Posted 13 May 2004 at 7:14pm #
The free version is NOT hiden, it´s there on the right of the order page with FREE in big letters. I don´t get the noise! If you have just a personal weblog, you can still use the free version.
If you have 10 sites with 40 authors as someone wrote elsewhere, it´s somewhat more than just a personal weblog. If all those people contribute something, you can pay for it - I´d also try to speak to the Sixapart folks and try to get a price reduction.
I´d be happy to pay it (if I´m convinced that it´s good software), though I´m already using Typepad and paying 80 bucks a year for that (so in comparison people can pay something for MT too). OK, you can argue about the sum.
AD++
Posted 13 May 2004 at 9:24pm #
Erik, you would have to pay 299$ because this blog is clearly for commercial purposes (tho it's not ONLY for that, it has links with your business, FSS)