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Weblog:   Movable Type 3.0 and Eating.
Subject:   There's a simple solution.
Date:   2004-05-13 19:47:21
From:   cccp
The dismissal of the outcry in the dramatic change of licensing structure as nothing more than the shrill howl of cheapskates speaks volumes on its own. Free clue kid: 50 cents a download is good money if you have a million downloads.


Open source and free software is a gift culture. You should not approach a gift culture expecting a payout. If you want to be paid for code, don't give it away. Duh.


Sixapart, of course, is free to set whatever terms they wish to. But the really interesting issue of this outcry has been missed: Sixapart shocked its userbase. Instead of working for conversions of the free base and slowly making changes, they shocked their users. Yeah, it's hard. Yeah, it sucks. But when you have legions grovelling at the Trott's feet, you don't kick them in the face. (See the Clutrain Manifesto for the significance of this.)


This was a monkey-effing-a-football disaster of a marketing rollout. Anyone who says otherwise clearly doesn't understand the power of word-of-mouth... WHICH IS WHAT BLOGGING IS ALL ABOUT YOU FOOLS.
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  • Timothy Appnel photo Right, and...
    2004-05-13 20:29:32  Timothy Appnel | O'Reilly Blogger [Reply | View]

    And anyone who makes a post like that doesn't understand that they will be dismissed as a ranting loon. In otherwords, there is no need to be insulting and take this type of tone. The rollout could have been handled better by SixApart. Calling this a kick in the face is an over reaction at best as is the rest of your post.
    • It's a kick in the face.
      2004-05-13 23:17:28  cccp [Reply | View]

      Don't like the sound of it? Tough. I'm using blunt language to make the point. Dismissing the obvious is how people get into these situations in the first place. They pissed off their users, that's unforgivable unless they're an easily marginalized minority. And by the looks of it, they miscalculated horribly.

      Dismiss your users at your peril.
    • Right, and...
      2004-05-18 12:48:57  darrenaddy [Reply | View]

      _I'm_ not dismissing him as a ranting loon. He makes some valid points if you are capable of looking past the adrenaline/testosterone-fueled syntax. Your dismissive reply to his post is arrogant, at best.

      Rather than his post being "an over reaction", I think the resulting furor shows that your saying "The rollout could have been handled better by SixApart" is an understatement of epic proportions.

      I think the best assessment of this whole MT license thing can be found here:
      http://diveintomark.org/archives/2004/05/14/freedom-0      .

      MT users seem to have made the mistake of equating a free version of the software with Open Source software, which it is (and has been) NOT. The way Six Apart handled all of this just woke a lot of people up to that fact.
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