Mena Trott‘s post explaining the new pricing structure for the next generation of Movable Type has more TrackBacks than I care to count. I’ve yet to find one that, from the excerpt at least, is positive. In a web culture where people expect everything to be free–and where most of the competitors are free–going from free to a rather whopping fee based service isn’t going over well.
I have no clue how MT or any of the other companies that make web hosting software stay in business. I donated to MT, as have lots of others, but that can’t amount to much in the grand scheme of things. Frankly, people who create well written, popular software–and MT qualifies on both counts–ought to be able to make a living doing it. That said, I’m not going to rush in and pay $69 to upgrade when I’m reasonably happy with my current version and in an environment where there are several other highly regarded competitors (notably WordPress) that still give away their products.
