Update on Licensing
We're quiet here at Six Apart because we're actually working to make the licenses more flexible for our users. We've read through the TrackBacks on this post and think we have a model that will make most people happy. But, before we announce the changes, we want to make sure that we don't rush them out. As well, we're speaking with a number of people about the changes to get a lot of external feedback.
Listening and Talking about Movable Type
Please continue to keep sending TrackBacks to this post. We appreciate our users taking the time to write up their usage scenarios and the straight answers to our questions.
And if you haven't had a chance to listen to the interview we did with Doug Kaye a week before the release, you can listen to it here. While you're prompted to register, this is a step that you can skip. It's a long interview, but it's pretty frank and hopefully answers some questions users may have.
How are you using the tool?
I have a challenge for those who have taken the time to send a TrackBack to our previous posts about the new licensing scheme for Movable Type 3.0.
If free isn't an issue for you and you're willing to pay for a version of Movable Type (say the $69 version) and the blog/author limits won't work for your current use, write a non-emotional post explaining how you're using Movable Type and TrackBack this entry.
I left the TrackBacks on for all the other posts because we genuinely wanted to get all feedback, positive and negative. Now, I'm looking for rational, just the facts sort of posts with simple information. Please, no commentary, no cussing, no judgments.
Bad Example: I don't want to pay for my weblogs and I don't want limits and I don't like Six Apart.
Good example: I'm running one group weblog that's non-commercial for 13 of my friends on our softball team and my three children, husband and I also all have personal weblogs. That's 6 weblogs and 19 authors total. The cost for this setup is a bit prohibitive for my personal hobby.
To keep focus on scenarios that can help shape changes in the licensing, I'm going to delete TrackBacks that are detracting or commentaries on Six Apart.
ITConversations with Doug Kaye
About a week before the Movable Type 3.0 Developer release, we answered some of Doug Kaye's questions about Movable Type, TypePad, Six Apart and ourselves. It's a whopping forty minutes long and that's after it was edited.
Ben and I really talked frankly in this interview and it's a bit emotional at times. It was difficult for me to listen to tonight because we're still in the thick of so much right now. One thing I want to express that may or may not be conveyed through my answers about users liking us is that those emails and comments we get from people who are supportive and love our tools mean a great deal -- more than many can possibly imagine.
Movable Type 3.0 Developer Edition
We've just released the Developer Edition of Movable Type 3.0.
If you're a developer or if you want to know specifically why we have this developer edition, please read this post, Movable Type Developer Edition 3.0.
We've also just launched Plug In to Movable Type 3.0 Developer's Contest where we're awarding $20,000 worth of prizes to plugin developers.
If you want to know some of the thinking behind our new pricing and licensing, read Commitment to a Free Version, while getting our pricing right.
And, based on the early feedback we've received about the new licensing, we've written up a brief explanation clarifying some points and explaining a few of the changes that we've made.
It's About Time
Update: Thanks for all your feedback. Please read this post that hopefully answers a lot of questions as well as explains some changes we're making.
Commitment to a Free Version, while getting our pricing right
As I hope you already know, today we launched the Movable Type 3.0 Developer Edition, what you may not know is that with this release we are also making major improvements in our licensing and support policies.
Over the past couple years, since our first release of Movable Type, we've tried to balance offering a product for free while being able to continue to innovate and develop. When our user base was in the hundreds and our users tended to be of the developer or designer breed and required less support, it was quite easy to release new versions at a fairly quick pace. As our user base grew and the tool became even more popular, it has become difficult to develop and offer support while relying on voluntarily donations.
That's not to say we aren't completely appreciative of those who donated. Every one of you has made it possible for Six Apart to exist today.
Ben and I are incredibly proud to see that Movable Type, the product that we first developed in our spare bedroom, has now enabled us to become a company that not only allows good people to have jobs that they (hopefully) enjoy but also a company that remembers those who got us here. Even better is that now we can say that so many of our staff were not only first and foremost Movable Type users but also people who volunteered for so long.
Movable Type Developer Edition 3.0
I'm really excited to be able to finally post about our new version of Movable Type and the innovative way we are launching it.
As I said in my previous post to Mena's Corner, the plugin and developer community is one of Movable Type's greatest strengths. This is a sentiment we've seen echoed around the Movable Type community, as well, along with the question: if Six Apart recognizes that the developer community is one its strengths, what are they doing to foster that community?
I addressed some of what we're doing in my previous post, but I want to expand on that.
IBD Network Event
Ben and I will be briefly talking about and showing Movable Type 3.0 tomorrow night 5/12, during the IBD Network event: Digital Soapbox - Will Blogging Make a Difference?
HOST: Chris Shipley, Executive Director, DEMO Conference
PANELISTS: Dan Gillmor - Technology Columnist - Mercury News
Susan Mernit - Principal, 5ive
Chris Nolan - Politics from Left to Right
Scott Rafer - CEO - Feedster
6:30pm - 8:30pm at Fenwick and West, 801 California Street, Mountain
View, CA 94041 Here is the link for directions.
Update: There is a registration fee for the event that I wasn't aware of when I created this post. Registration can be found here.
