Moving from MovableType to WordPress has been “interesting” to say the least. Many weblogs have documented issues that come up. But, there’s another issue which is that 6 apart, the company that makes MT has just changed the licensing of their software, making it a bit more expensive and a bit more restrictive.

The interesting issue is that this is mostly about marketing, not the software and it’s a shame that MT and 6 apart are going to take a big hit over this as they are true innovators and have built wonderful tools.

6 Apart
Kottke.org
Dive Into Mark
But She’s a Girl…
CARTHIK.NET
Daring Fireball
bradchoat.com
Airbag
Asterisk

The real logistical issues are interesting but the meta marketing issues are even more interesting: a company that had and continues to have a grassroots following is getting a lot of crap because they would like to make a little money on their efforts.

WordPress is an open source tool: it’s built by a small group of skilled developers but with lots of help from outside. MovableType is a commercial tool that’s built by a small group of developers with less help from outside and one has to buy it. Is MT worth the price? Maybe so, I’m not the best judge but I do know that WP suffers from a lack of designers on its development team and MT’s strength is the fact that Mena Lott is a first class web designer herself and knows quite a bit about user interface as does her husband who’s the lead developer of MT.

This is a story that will be fascinating to track over the next year or years as more people get into this. Also, google owns blogger.com which means they are the 800 pound gorilla to deal with for both MT and WP.