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Weblog:   Movable Type 3.0 and Eating.
Subject:   Is Mena eating properly?
Date:   2004-05-14 07:12:26
From:   comingupforair
after your article, i was relieved to see mena was looking healthy and well-fed in her photo.


perhaps in your next article you can check up on radiohead to ensure they're also eating properly in this era of rampant file-sharing.


also, to call MT users 'cheap' is just plain wrongheaded. you're talking about a community of artists and writers - ranging from the erudite to the illiterate - who enrich the internet on a daily basis with their words and images. for most of whom, the thought of being paid (however absurd or reasonable) doesn't cross their mind. why? because the very spirit of blogging is that information wants to be free. it only makes sense that they're going to use a platform that embodies this principle.


it comes down to this: we suspected six apart weren't in touch with their users before and now we know they weren't.


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Showing messages 1 through 3 of 3.

  • Timothy Appnel photo Please.
    2004-05-14 07:33:10  Timothy Appnel | O'Reilly Blogger [Reply | View]

    This community of artists and writers then can use emacs or notepad with FTP to express themselves. That's like saying Apple should give away their G5's because artists and writers use would their machie to enrich the Internet.

    I ran a music zine for years (at a loss -- for years) and met many a starving artist. (I was one of those starving writers.) I know that even the successful artist really never got duly compenstated for their work. So I absolutely support artists and writers getting compenstated. Two wrongs don't make a right though.

    Writing software of the quality they have takes talent and a lot of work. Supporting it and working with the community even more. Posts like your are the type that dishearten me and my profession because it shows a lack of appreciation for what I and others do.

    They are a young business trying to learn what it means to be just that -- a business. Could this have been handled better? Yes. Mistakes are bound to happen. Cut them some slack and stop being so insulting.
    • Please.
      2004-05-15 23:08:11  comingupforair [Reply | View]

      I am not saying that artists and writers should be given free hardware but i am 100% behind the belief that everyone in the world should be entitled to computer and internet access. by way of libraries and community centers, everywhere from the bronx to bombay, this is not an unrealistic reality.

      free (or flexibly priced) licensing is significantly different than free merchandise. how? when apple gives away an emac, they have ONE LESS emac to sell. when mena gives away a license to an amateur photographer... she is not in any way worse off for it. (in fact, i would argue she is better off, because when said photographer turns professional as a result of his great photoblog, he will continue to use and advocate and now pay for MT).

      lawrence lessig details this difference in his book free culture. (which is available for free download at http://free-culture.org/)

      furthermore, my argument only concerns the non-commercial or personal use of MT. of course for-profit businesses should be paying for MT.

    • Please.
      2004-05-15 17:18:46  musnat [Reply | View]

      tima, I think you are being insulting to users of MT. Just because they don't want to pay 100$ up to 600$ doesn't mean insulting. You are being insulting to other users I think. You have every right to defend SixApart, maybe you have a financial gain to do so or not, but don't try to insult users like that!!! People just don't want to pay for that price and insulting them for expressing their opinions is insulting itself. Also remember that MT become MT thanks to many of its users who recommended it to their friends. You seem to disregard all of these people.

      By the way, I truly understand your pain as a software developer. I am also one of them I truly understand that, but this pricing scheme is totally stupid. They could come up with a fantastic licensing scheme where they could still make lots of money without pissing people off.

      For example,

      3 blog 3 authors restriction for free version.
      unlimited blogs/unlimited authors for personal edition without reselling to others and not hosting other authors' blogs with this license and charge something around 40-60$ for this.

      and then commercial licenses which I don't care

      author, blog restriction is totally arbitrary, trying to increase the price based on these is not a good idea. That's the main point.

      Also provide some more features for the MT 3.0, right now Typekey is not that interesting.
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