Capn Design Archives: Paying for Movable Type

Paying for Movable Type

May 14, 2004

Yesterday morning I read about Movable Type's plan to charge for version 3.0. I was a little surprised. I knew that I'd have to pay for MT at some point in the future, but I didn't realize it would happen so quickly and would be so expensive. As others have pointed out--done succinctly by Jason Kottke--it's not so much the concept of paying that's troubling, it's the cumbersome restrictions put on personal licenses.

For instance, I have 8 blogs and 5 different authors on my system right now with plans for more of each. Today, I would have to pay $119.95 to run MT 3.0. This plan allows for 8 blogs and 6 authors and the next and highest personal plan, which goes for $149.95, allows 10 blogs and 9 authors. So, if I launch a new blog and invite some friends, which I have been planning to do, I could quickly be without an option for personal license.

The lowest level is currently $69.95, which is an amount I would definitely be willing to pay if it allowed unlimited, or at least a much higher, number of blogs and authors. And since I have already donated $45, it would only cost me an extra $25.

Additionally, there are a couple things included in the paid version of MT that I don't need. These are "professional support from Six Apart" and "access to fee-based services such as installation, advanced support, other services." Shouldn't there be an option for people who just want the software without support? I'd rather not pay for it if I don't have to.

It's worth noting that a free version will always exist. Currently, you can install MT 3.0 for free and have up to three blogs and one author.

Comments (3 comments so far)

Comment #1:

Well put. I, too, had to link to Kottke's great commentary about the personal licensing structure.

I hope 6A can sift through the misplaced rants to find the one idea that is at the base of this heap -- people are not against paying (the MT software is worth paying for), but the restrictions on personal licenses just don't work for the average user and what the average user is willing to pay to continue using MT as they currently do.

Posted by Nicole on May 14, 2004 at 4:21PM

Comment #2:

doh! remind me why i switched to this thing again? kidding.

Posted by nelly on May 14, 2004 at 7:04PM

Comment #3:

I moved to WordPress a few months ago, and it was the best thing that happened to my blog. I wrote a How To move from Movable Type to WordPress over at my blog, which might be of interest to you.
WordPress lets me do everything MT did, and the support and user community positively rock!

Posted by Carthik on May 14, 2004 at 10:27PM

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