A day in the life of a Middle Manager...

MT3

So, MT3 has gone to a paid model for the application. This is a disappointment to me and, it seems, many many others. While I'm not going to go quite as far as some do in saying that they're going to move away from MT for sure I will be considering options in the future...

In reality I can, of course, just leave the version of MT that I'm currently running on the server alone rather than "upgrading" as it appears that the new version doesn't really offer any impressive new features that make me think 'ooooh, must have!'

What a shame that just as blogger has undergone an extensive redesign and remains free Six Apart should decide to effectively alienate the users of MT by restricting the free version of MT3 to 3 blogs and one author (which certainly doesn't fit my usage patterns and I'm sure doesn't fit most other peoples).

I totally understand that Six Apart are a company and companies exist to make money and, you know what, I would happily have paid say $50 for a killer new version of MT. One that had lots of new features and built-in photoblog capability (I know 2.661 can do that but I just haven't bothered fiddling with it to do so yet). It's not so much that MT3 is paid, it's that the licensing options just plain suck... I mean, it's $69.95 right now (will be $99.95) for the option that allows 3 authors and 5 blogs... What if I want more than 5 blogs? Ah, that's the next option along; 6 authors & 8 blogs -- $149.95. They're kidding -- right? This is something personal, not a corporate site!

As it is, Six Apart have managed to plant a small seed of doubt in my mind. There is no doubt that MT is a fantastic app but I now have my doubts about the direction in which it is heading.

I'm also not too happy about some of the terms in MT3 free -- for example;

A Little Credit
You must maintain, on every page generated by the Software, an operable link to http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ , with the link text "Powered by Movable Type", as specified by Six Apart, unless otherwise stated in the terms included with your copy of the Software.

Making Copies
You may install the Software on only one (1) computer or server having a single CPU.

Sorry? I HAVE to credit Six Apart on every page of my site? I can only install the software if the server I install it on has a single CPU? How many webhosts out there use servers that only have a single CPU??? Not too many I'd guess. Certainly when I was working for an ISP pretty much every server that got ordered was either dual or quad CPU...

There are many CMS' out there -- choosing one is a matter of trial and error. Right now, I'm fairly happy with MT 2.661 but who's to say that a contender such as wordpress won't come along the rails and knock my socks off in the near future. It already looks pretty good...

I get the feeling that Six Apart haven't thought this relaunch out properly. Maybe we'll see some sidestepping or backtracking in the very near future. You never know!