Movable Type vs. Wordpress
Once upon a time, folks used Movable Type to setup their blogs. It was free, you could install it on your own server and use plugins and CSS files to customize it. A Movable Type community of sorts appeared, supporting each other through forums, blog posts and comments - we learned to customize and optimize. Sometimes the Movable Type system was used for more than personal blogging, even if doing so was not especially user friendly.
Then one day WordPress appeared. It was not remarkable at first; it was yet another blogging software. Some folks started to use it over Movable Type because of some rather minor differences in how the two function.
Movable Type remained the clear leader up until the point where they changed their licensing and made the freely distributed version functionally limited. At that point, many people (myself included) switched to Wordpress. It wasn't just the free factor, it's also refreshing to work with a system that does not rely on file publishing, and instead just loads each page dynamically.
Now the pendulum may swing back the other way, WordPress is by no means perfect, but MovableType has unlocked all the features from their personal-use version - and they have been making improvements. The biggest reason I'm interested in giving Movable Type another chance: the WordPress Administration tool is a real ogre - it's organized poorly, scattered, and clunky.
16 year old Austin Heller has some well articulated thoughts on the matter, read them over at his blog post on the matter.
2 Comments:
MT 4 might be better now, but I remember when it was hard to install, hard to configure, had a confusing (IMO) interface, ran slow as molasses, and *then* changed its licensing structure.
At the time WordPress was everything MT wasn't and had better spam protection to boot. People flocked.
I'm glad that SixApart has (or plans to) open source MT -- having that freedom to modify and innovate on a platform is critical.
I have no plans to switch my own blog, but MT might work for future projects.
I think it will take more than them opening back up to change the tide. I also switched to Wordpress some time ago and they have continued to advance the platform with frequency. While the management interface could be better so can most and I don't find myself frustrated using it.
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