I've seen, here and there, numerous complaints about MoveableType 3.0 not being free anymore. I have no sympathy. None.
To begin with MT 2.x wasn't actually free -- a donation was requested. Which I happily sent along, as it was worth it and software authors, like other human beings, deserve to get paid for their work. They are not slaves. Further, they are still offering a free limited edition of MT 3.0 for single authors to run up to 3 blogs. Seems pretty decent actually -- they aren't even asking for a donation anymore, so in that respect it's cheaper than before. Just limited.
IMHO, anyone who is running a group blog, or is running more than 3 blogs, can durn well pony up $70 for the software or go hungry. Or go find another vendor with a better price. This sounds to me like the self-centered whining of the same folks who think that music and video artists ought to provide free stuff, too, and copy steal it when it's not given to them at a "reasonable price" (i.e. free).
That having been said, I'll stick with my (paid for) copy of MT2.66 for a while -- even though I'd qualify for the (free) MT3.0 LE version. Not only do I not want to change anything I don't have to, but the new features in MT3 aren't enough to worry about. Now, if they had spellcheck, validation of poster's asserted domains, and a far less tedious HTML editor, I'd be interested. Then again if anyone else has such, I'd also be interested, so long as I didn't have to rearrange the world to use it.
God, but I hate whining by people who ought to know better.
UPDATE: MT's original announcement is here, along with over 500 trackbacks.
Who is "whining" about anything? The question is not whether SixApart has a right to charge a ridiculous price for its software; it's only whether or not anyone in his right mind would pay it when better alternatives are available for free.
Posted by: Xrlq at May 15, 2004 09:55 AMYeah, I'm not whining either. I'm just not willing to pay $600 to keep blogging. Yes, my current set up, due to having a group blog would force me into the $600 version due to too many authours. I'm perfectly willing to pay for the software of my choice -- I use eudora for email, the fully paid version, and will forever unless they want to start charging hundreds of dollars to use it. Hey, it's a free country, right? They can charge $600 and I can say, "so long and thanks for all the fish" . See? No whining. Humourous Douglas Adams quote instead :)
Posted by: Ith at May 15, 2004 12:26 PMHmmm ... I had in mind the folks posting over at movabletype, but whatever.
See the changes they've made.
For example, there is no longer a single-CPU limitatation -- they claim it was an oversight -- so Ith's problem should be greatly reduced.
Posted by: Kevin Murphy at May 15, 2004 04:18 PM