My sister is back home and we got talking about techy-geeky things and blogs.
We took a look at something on her site and she complained about how tacky or boring it looked. I think it was still using the original design style from Movable Type. So being familiar with WordPress and blogs in general I know that it’s relatively easy to change styles since it’s all in the CSS. So we find the thing to choose designs and off we go. But for some reason MT messed everything up with the sidebars.
I am my sister’s tech saviour. I provide hardware (i.e.: Canon PowerShot A560, Western Digital Passport 120GB, et al.), software (Windows & Office) and most importantly movies and TV shows (i.e.: Ugly Betty, Prison Break). So now I am my sister’s blog saviour.
I’ve used MT on my previous blog, and my brother currently [nominally] uses it as well. The gripe is the user interface (or user experience) for MT3.33 is clunky, static and just plain yuck. WP2.3 just seems light years ahead. I feel like a geek to say it, but WP is just better web.
But that’s not the big issue. The main issue is open source software. SixApart, a for-profit company) is the primary developer of MT. So they took the originally open source MT2.x and made it “closed source” for MT3.x. Lots of Movable Type developers fled and created WordPress.
Now look: MT4.x is once again being released as open source (Movable Type Open Source). And now SixApart is playing catch up. Too bad. Movable Type was a pioneer, but WordPress is the new king of the playground. Just don’t mention Google and Blogspot/Blogger.
So my mini-task for this week: migrate my sister’s blogs from MT and Blogspot to WordPress. I pray for clear skies and strong tailwinds.
Tags: blogging, family, Google, technology, wordpress
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Haha. That’s why you’re going to work for a non-profit NGO!!
MT never had an open source license ever.
MT was built using various open source technology particularly Perl and numerous addons libraries from CPAN, but it was never released under a GPL or like license. (This is changing shortly though.) The code has always remained open as in viewable. Nothing is done to hide or obfuscate it — anyone can view and modify if you need to. You just couldn’t freely distribute MT amongst other proprietary license terms.
The difference and what the ruckus was all about then is that payment for its use went from being mostly optional (donations) with MT2 to required with the release of MT3. Also, and perhaps more significantly, that change in the license/practice was never mentioned or discussed until MT3 was released.
MT started out with Ben and Mena always asking that anyone who used the software contribute what they thought the software was worth with suggestions of $20 and $40. Most people abused that and didn’t pay a dime, but some did that they could scrape by doing this and some consulting full-time. By the time MT3 was released, Ben and Mena had formed Six Apart, took on investors, hired staff and had launched TypePad — their software had stopped being a hobby or a side business into a full fledge enterprise. I personally saw no problem in this since they never ever had released the software under a GPL license and had always asked to paid for its use. Besides forming Six Apart and all that came with it meant that a lot more resources that would benefit MT and blogging tools in general.
Six Apart don’t really enforce that you pay or license — in fact personal use was made free not long after the MT3 release debacle. You have always been able to download MT and run it completely unencumbered. Without a license the software was not crippled nor did it nag you or “phone home” to report you.
Where Six Apart did blow it was not communicating this shift and their intentions BEFORE the required payment license was unveiled. Afterall, blogging is about transparency and they are a leading developer of blogging tools so they should have known better, right? In retrospect, the shift was far to abrupt and dramatic that it shocked many. I’m pretty darn sure they know they screwed up there though I believe it was more of an unintentional oversight made by a really young and inexperienced company then something “evil” as the WordPress community is so fond to call it. Despite all the apologies, continued goodwill and contributions it seems that one mistake is one many won’t forgive no matter what they do.
The point here is that to say MT was open source software that was taken “closed source” is completely inaccurate and a falsehood that has been perpetuated over time for reasons that I’ll probably never understand.
[Updated by Ben to include Timothy's edits and hyperlinks]
This is the epitome of geek.
Three minutes of my life I will never get back.
OH EM GEE.
Just another small note: While lots of the Movable Type community may have fled - or at least have been perceived to have fled - in actuality, very few of the developers did so, and those that did didn’t do so to create Wordpress. Wordpress was created (forked) from b2, an essentially dead piece of open source software (not created from the ashes of MT).
And if you want to compare interfaces, you should compare them accurately. WP 2.3 was released in September of 2007. While it is true that the interface hasn’t changed a whole lot, it should be most accurately compared to the interface of MT4, released around the same time. MT 3.33 was released in mid-2006 if memory serves. Doing otherwise would be like comparing MT4 to WP 2.0 or something.
Of course, there are lots of reasons why switching may not be a bad idea - replacing themes in Wordpress is much easier than doing so in Movable Type, but there are also other things to consider is all.
What Silas said. It’s like when you were talking about those RSS feeds you use to download. WHAT?!?!
Importing from MT and Blogspot to WP2.3 should be smooth and painless, since WP has the importer built in. Once you have WP installed and setup, it’s just takes a few clicks to import. Thereafter, you can just delete the MT files & db, as req’d.
Nuts of and about blogging…
…
Huh…?…
I was playing around with different designs available on my blogging interface and somehow my blog ended up with…lots of white space. At least on my computer. Need my brother to help me figure this out!!!
……
Now this some great info!!! Thanks a lot!
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Very good post! Thank you for the work done!