Catshit coffee
I'm not joking: see Edible Limited, under 'herbivore'.
Boggle.
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May 28, 2004
May 16, 2004
My last word on MovableType, I promise
Prompted by one of the bazillions of posts on the new MovableType license, I actually went and looked at the new 3.0 licenses, and I've come to the conclusion that the so-called Personal use license is so restrictive that virtually nobody who writes a blog will be able to use it:
“Non-Commercial Purposes” means use of the Software by an individual for publishing on a personal blog site on a single sever that does not directly or indirectly support any commercial efforts.
So if I mention anything about my job, it would break the clause about indirectly supporting commercial efforts. For most people their job is a major component of their lives, and it's just ridiculous to assume that they aren't at some point going to mention something that happened to them at work, or rave about some cool work-related project they are working on, for example.
I'm sure I'll probably get someone either working for SixApart or related to them telling me that I'm misinterpreting the license, but it's so vague and badly written that misinterpretation is inevitable. I've also seen people assuming that based on what was said in the original SixApart announcement that they had been given 'A nod and a wink' to carry on using MT in the same way they always had. Sorry - read the license, that's what governs whay you can and can't do, not what you read between the lines of some blog entry.
There's also an excellent analysis of the MT3.0 screwup in marketing terms in Elizabeth Lane Lawley's blog:
You don’t just need to know what the random(user) thinks, you need to know what the opinion makers and change agents think - because since Movable Type users are all publishers, with audiences, those people will have an immediate impact on other users with their public reactions.
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The fact that the response to the new licenses surprised them so much says volumes about how little they understood their users.
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The fact that the response to the new licenses surprised them so much says volumes about how little they understood their users.
Exactly so. Finally, there's a rather good comparison chart of the various MT alternatives in Unbrand's blog on unbounded.org.
May 15, 2004
MovableTripe
Well, after all the furore over the new MovableType license that I mentioned in my last post, SixApart have tried to mollify their users, and many of the MT users seem to have breathed a collective sigh of relief. However, perhaps I'm an old cynic (OK, I am an old cynic), but I just don't buy it, sorry - and here are the reasons why:
- The people trying to defend SixApart have made much of the fact that nobody has been forced to upgrade to MT3.0, and that it's a 'Developer only' version. Well, excuse me, but have any of you actually tried to find 2.661 on the MovableType website? No? I thought not, because it's not actually there any more, as far as I can tell. So if 3.0 is only intended to be for developers, where is the non-developer version? What are new MT users supposed to use? And before anyone says "Oh I can get a copy from my friend", go read the license, you can't:
Personal, Non-Commercial Use License. The Software is licensed to you for your personal, non-commercial use. You may install the Software on a single website, residing on a single server for your personal, non-commercial use only. Enjoy!
and:
Restrictions on Use. Licensor grants you the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Software to manage and update your personal, non-commercial website. You may not redistribute the Software without Licensor's prior written consent. Although you may modify or alter the Software for your own use (including copies that extend, or enhance the Software), you may not distribute, transfer, or resell the modified or derivative copies of the Software; you may not use such copies for other than personal, non-commercial purposes; and you may not use such copies in a way that violates the terms of this Agreement.So to summarise, you can't download 2.661 from the MT webside any more, and you can't get a copy from any other source without breaking the license. Conclusion: 2.661 is dead.
- If this isn't an attempt to force people into paying for 3.0, where is the stuff to allow you to downgrade from 3.0 back to 2.661? How do 3.0 beta testers revert back to 2.661 if they aren't happy with the 3.0 licensing terms?
- Despite appearances, they haven't actually dropped the prices, if you read the announcement carefully, they've just increased the user counts slightly, so it's still $100 for the cheapest version.
- Lets not forget that MT is just a few perl CGI scripts where the interface has had some graphic design talent applied - not exactly rocket science. In fact its performance is pretty appalling, and that's not the fault of perl, it's the sign of an indifferently written app. Perl, used correctly is fast enough for the light text munging needed to run a blog - I have a perl app I wrote for the day job that churns out 146MB of HTML - 31,000 files - in about 10 minutes. No way am I shelling out $100 for MT, because frankly is just isn't worth that kind of money, not when for only $84 I could by this, for example.
As my friend Elaine pointed out in her comment to my first post, SixApart are no longer just the cute Mena and Ben that started the company, they've taken money from some Venture Capitalists, and as CM Harrington puts it so succinctly in a comment Elaine referred to over over here:
6A needs to get paid. I don't think anyone disputes that. People also need to realise that 6A is no longer "Ben and Mena". It's a full-fledged VC funded company with offices around the world.
When 6A became VC funded, a very radical change occurred. The VC, because they are the ones fronting the money, are the ones calling the shots. Don't be fooled by Mena's posts. TypeKey, TypePad, the MT3 Licensing, and the lack of communication are all influenced by the VC. That's just what happens when you become funded. That is the entire point. Other people give you huge chunks of money so they can make more money.
6A probably signed a deal that told the VC that they will get X% return on investment in T time (where X is large, and T is small). How do you do that? Usually it involves doing things you wouldn't normally do to customers or a community you are a part of. The licensing scheme is the obvious result. If they didn't do this, the VC people would probably be able to sell the whole shebang to a large company and sack Mena and Ben without batting an eyelash.
I don't know either of the SixApart founders, but everything I've read suggests that they are nice people, and I have no reason to doubt this. However, they've taken the thirty pieces of silver from the Venture Capitalists, and from what has happened over the MT3.0 release it seems clear that they aren't really calling the shots any longer. I feel sorry for them, but I don't think it's reasonable for them to expect their users (many who contributed much of the intellectual capital and code in MT) to cover their debt to the VC vultures. I'll make a prediction - in 12 months, they won't be at the helm of the company any longer.
SixApart employees, start polishing your resumes.
May 14, 2004
MovableType's business model implodes
MovableType is the software I use to run this blog and is produced by a company called SixApart. Up until now it has always been free, but MT3.0 has just been released, and it's far from free. SixApart have tried to spin the announcement as best they could, but judging from the hailstorm of negative comments it's backfired very, very badly. The amusing thing is that people are registering their displeasure using the very trackback feature that SixApart themselves promoted so strongly - everyone who reads the announcement also gets to see the torrents of vituperation being hurled at SixApart. Nice PR move guys!
SixApart do claim to offer a free version of MT, but it's very restricted (one author, max of three blogs), and you have to register with their TypeKey service before you can download the new version. It won't affect me as I only run this blog, but it sure has pissed off all the people who let their family members run a blog on their machines.
It seems that SixApart have ignored one of the primary tenets of releasing something as open source (OK, I know the license is a bit odd, but you could get the source for free):
Once the genie is out of the bottle, you can't put it back in.
If you release something as open source, you need to be sure that either it doesn't have any direct revenue implications for your business, or that any revenue you lose as a consequence is compensated for by an increase elsewhere - for example either by using the release to drive adoption of other related products, or offering a superior services package on top. Even offering a 'premium' non-free version (à la OpenOffice/StarOffice) will leave you wide open to accusations of releasing 'crippleware' and of 'Not understanding the whole open source thing'. What you absolutely can't do is bait and switch - release something as free then at some point in the future try to screw money out of people for it, as Borland found with their loused up attempt to open source their InterBase RDBMs, now known as Firebird.
SixApart also seem to have forgotten two other little facts - firstly there is actually nothing that requires you to move up from the current free version (2.661), and secondly there are a plethora of free alternatives out there, some of them possibly better than MT. Alienating the bulk of your user community when your business depends entirely on an easily replaceable asset seems to be somewhat suicidal. The people who I really feel sorry for are the MT3.0 alpha and beta testers, who will have undoubtedly invested a lot of time and effort in helping get MT3.0 out of the door, only to be asked to pay for the very thing they have been working on for free. Nice.
And hey guys, if you're gonna charge for MT, when are you going to move your domain out of .org and into .com? ;-)
May 05, 2004
First gig of the season
On Monday we played our first gig of the season, at a May-day festival in Belper. The weather gods were kind, and we had a good audience - the street was narrow so they couldn't get away :-) The fee was also a welcome addition to our coffers. I'm not actually in the picture - the big drum and the blue beater on the far left are mine :-)
Kernel engineers in the great outdoors.
Last Wednesday Gary and myself went for a walk to see the aircraft wreck at Higher Shelf Stones - he'd seen the earlier writeup on my blog and wanted to go and see it. The weather was a bit iffy - visibility down to 20m once we got up to the top of Crooked Clough, with a very strong wind. We found the trig point at Higher Shelf Stones, and took the obligatory photos to prove we'd been there.
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The wreck is a few hundred metres north of the trig, so we wandered over to have a look - Gary has some photos over here in his blog. The rest of the walk across to Dowstone Clough, Dog Rock, Torside Castles then off over Glossop Low was all in the clag, which was a pity for Gary as we got to see bugger all. For me it was a good navigation exercise :-) As we were walking over towards Glossop Low a grouse shot out from under Gary's feet, half a second later and he'd have trodden on it. It had built it's nest right on the line of the path, and was sitting on a clutch of about a dozen eggs. Just proves what incredibly stupid birds they are. We didn't take a photo as it was pretty cold and windy and we didn't want the eggs to get chilled. See how environmentally sensitive we are :-)
May 03, 2004
Blogging gets the Sun Seal of Approval
Sun has just published its new internal policy for blogging, encouraging a lot more openness, and as a fitting first step Tim Bray, who was one of the forces behind getting it defined, has published the new blogging policy in his blog . He's also descibed the process. behind it. Tim's new to Sun, and I quite like his last paragraph:
And by the way, I’m new here, but based on what I see so far, I’m impressed by this kind of fast-moving no-bullshit way of doing things. I’ve worked for startups - I’ve run startups - that aren’t as purposeful and nimble.
I think Tim's been fortunate and has seen the Schwartz Effect at work in this particular instance. Sun is changing dramatically and this is just one instance. However I'm sure there are plenty of the Old Guard left, it's going to be interesting to see how they react :-)
May 01, 2004
Open Source Solaris
Excerpt from http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/04/30/HNsolarisgpl_1.html:
Sun Microsystems Inc. may be selling servers running Linux, but that doesn't mean it is cutting back on the evolution of Solaris. Among its plans, the company is considering offering a free, open source version of its flagship operating system, said Jonathan Schwartz, the company's recently appointed president and chief operating officer.
Also see the associated slashdottery at http://slashdot.org/articles/04/05/01/1235209.shtml
Boy, am I interested to see how this plays out...