For some time now I’ve been using Movable Type, by Six Apart, as my blogging software. Made it possible for me to move everything to my server and gain greater control over the code as well as the content of my blog. Recently, Robert Scoble introduced a bunch of my NextNow buddies to WordPress, which is free blog software.
For some time now I’ve been using Movable Type, by Six Apart, as my blogging software. Made it possible for me to move everything to my server and gain greater control over the code as well as the content of my blog. Recently, Robert Scoble introduced a bunch of my NextNow buddies to WordPress, which is free blog software.
It’s interesting to contrast the two. Movable Type, written in Perl, installs and runs easily on almost any server. It doesn’t require any fancy database software. Page formats can be customized “infinitely.” Looks great. It runs smoothly, with no bugs that I have yet found in two years of use.
WordPress, written in PHP, installs and runs easily on almost any server. It does require a connection to the (free) database server MySQL, which is a different story to install. It can give you a bit of grief if you don’t already have it running. Page format can also be customized. It also looks great and runs smoothly (according to reports from my friends, such as Jay Cross, who uses it daily).
But, there is one big difference that I think will be a deal-maker or deal-breaker for me at some future time. That is, MovableType requires a paid license and that license is based on the number of bloggers actively writing entries. Hey, I have no problem paying for good software, and have purchased a commercial MT license. The standard blog model is really one-person-writing-many-people-reading. Blogs are historically a one-to-many vehicle for communication. So MovableType is licensed based on the number of bloggers. One to five bloggers is one price, six to 10 is another, and so forth. It gets expensive if you have many more bloggers than that. (WordPress is free.) So far, two of the half dozen blogs I’ve sponsored are of the many-to-many variety, not the one-to-many variety. Their benefit comes from having a large number of people initiating blog entries and interacting. This would make a MovableType license prohibitively expensive, even if only one blog is being created. Watch out MovableType – WordPress may end up eating your lunch!
Leave a Reply