Movable Type is worth paying for

First of all, in response to Mena Trott’s query How are you using the tool?, here’s how movable type fits into my life:

I have two weblogs with two authors running on my site (at www.omegageek.net/blog and www.omegageek.net/rickscafe). Since typepad came along, I’ve tended to use my domain blog as more of a testbed for projects involving different people. (And don’t worry, Rick, I’m not shutting your or the domain down — I might even upgrade to MT 3.0).

I have also used MT to set up candidate web sites for two candidates in the area. This has been particularly successful because it allowed me to provide candidate’s with the ability to add content very easily to their web site, thus communicating directly with the voters.

I’m also managing several projects at school using MovableType. I have been using MT to manage some of the courses I teach. More recently, we are using MT to manage four different online class projects — 4 blogs with about 20 different authors. An upcoming project is designing an online community for a graduate program. Many of the students, including me, are not in the same center as the University, and I would hope to overcome the sensation of peripherality that I had when starting the program. Part of this project includes using MT to provide every student and staff involved with the program their own weblog, and judiciously collecting, processing and displaying the various syndication feeds to create an overall group site. This would require 20 or 30 authors. I would also like alumni of the program to continue to have their blog as long as they wanted it, so the number of authors would increase with time. I don’t know how the newer licenses would permit this.

I have read with great interest over the past several days how some users have felt betrayed by the move to the new licensing structure. I would add my voice to those who say that if they don’t want to upgrade, they can continue to use MT 2.X as long as it continues to meet their needs. I may do this; MT, along with contributions from the MT support and development community, has allowed me many opportunities to create the blog I wanted. I would also remind those who feel betrayed that they have been allowed to use MT for a couple of years without any cost. Is $70 (well, actually $100 for me since I’m paying in Canuck bucks) too much to pay for all the value you have received from MT? I think I’ve gotten more than my money’s worth from MT so far, and I’m not unwilling to pay for that.

I’ve also received great support from Ben and Mena while using MT. I recall sending an e-mail query in once and getting a response from Mena within 24 hours. I realize that MT is now a product of SixApart, so its not just Ben and Mena, but I’m also willing to pay just to reward Ben and Mena for the service they have provided over the past couple of years. (So when I send my money in, make sure it goes straight to Ben and Mena!)

(Complete aside – I could have sworn I saw Mena eating lunch in the Broadway Cafe in Saskatoon on Thursday. Wouldn’t that be cool!)

With regards to the pricing, two people seemed to provide a rational perspective on the changes to MT in version 3. First, Brad Choate sayeth:

Movable Type is good software. It has served me well. I want to see it thrive and continue to be developed. Don’t you?

Absolutely true, Brad. Looking at what I’ve done for free, I think the cost of the personal license is well worth it (even though I could possibly make due with the free edition).

Let me allow the venerable Dave Winer to put it all in perspective for us:

… we saw people complain about spending $60 for a big useful piece of software like Movable Type. I paid $60 for a cab ride in Geneva. A good dinner is $100. A hotel room $150. You want the software, find a way to help companies like Six Apart instead of making them miserable. You’ve now got the tools to communicate. Use them well. Use them better.

Blog on, Dave. Blog on!