Things like this frustrate me: companies that don’t know how to make money on free products. You can, by the way. It involves a marketing strategy - like up-sells to a pro version. What you have to avoid: punishing your best customers.
The folks at Six Apart should be smarter than this. Type Pad, a reasonably priced commercial license and free MT and the now defunct MT Pro would have been an enviable product mix.
If you have to almost triple your licensing fees to cover costs, then you are growing too fast at the expense of your customers. Maybe this is the result of a VC cash induced delusions of grandeur.
I’m not against them making any money. In fact, I think this decision will lose them money. Movable Type - as good as it is, is only a few steps ahead of other free solutions. And there’s nothing more annoying to web developers than complex, per user licenses. And that is the community put MT on top.
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May 13th, 2004 at 4:54 pm
Excellent analysis.
You’re right, there are ways to make money on free software and you can do it without losing clients.
This is very disappointing news.
May 14th, 2004 at 8:47 am
The Selfish Armies of You
A lot of y’all in the blogosphere are straight up buggin’ …
May 15th, 2004 at 12:48 pm
The next release of MT will be the one to watch, but I agree that per user pricing of consumer software is insane. MT Pro, with more commercial features, is something I’d spend money on. The same features as I have now for $600? Nah.
May 18th, 2004 at 1:34 pm
Movable Type RIP
With MT being commercialized and the free version crippled, I’m considering moving to something else. I started with Radio Userland and later moved to MT for a more flexible open product. Now maybe it’s time to move on again. I’m considering maybe pMac…