Movable Type 3 SHOULD Cost Money
Published May 14, 2004
For donating you get a discount on MT 3 Personal License. Way back when I donated I was told I would get a full credit on the 3.0 version. I donated $60 and today got $65 in credit, because they give you an extra $5 on the second $20 donation. This means I payed $4.95 for the Personal License. So Six Apart not only held up their end of the deal, they gave me a $5 bonus in credit and I didn't even ask for it.
I also own a commercial license for MT for my business site. I payed $150 for that. During a great IM conversation with Anil Dash today I find out that that $150 I payed is good for $150 off a Developer License of MT 3. With an introductory price of $199.95 that means I will have to pay $49.99 for the upgrade for commercial use of 3.0. In a day and age of price gouging even on upgrades, thats a heck of a nice upgrade policy (as is the discount for donations).
Donating and paying for free software is great. You should give it a try. And for what its worth, Movable Type is more then worth paying for. Sure it is a blogging tool, but if you can code, you can make it into a really nice CMS with little work.
Next Up: My first experiences setting up Movable Type 3, TypeKey, and the new centralized features that Six Apart offers its Movable Type users.
Ken Edwards is the Gaming Editor at Blogcritics, and calls Breaking Windows home. Ken works part time for Student Publications at BGSU as the Webmaster and System Administrator. He is also a freelance web developer.
- Movable Type 3 SHOULD Cost Money
- Published: May 14, 2004
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- Section: Sci/Tech
- Filed Under: Sci/Tech: Software
- Writer: Ken Edwards
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Comments on this articleComments
It isn't that Six Apart are selling Moveable Type which is the problem, it is that Six Apart completely failed to communicate with their existing customers and potential customers.
They have not been effective in explaining what is the value the user gets for the new, restrictive license, The way it is presented, you are paying more for MT 3.0 and getting less.
They failed to manage expectations, failed to make a selling proposition, and now are going to have to scramble like crazy to fix this.
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/15669)
There are some other facts out there too. Your presentation is one-sided and doesn't answer the question, why the outrage? Is is just because people want something for nothing? Nope, nobody is on Six Apart's back for charging for MT.
Just read a little history and maybe you will start to understand.