Snappy the Clam

MovableType Madness (Stefan Tilkov's Random Stuff)

It's not that people are against someone making money with a good product. If you're still making this claim you're not reading the reactions closely enough. People are upset because Six Apart really blundered their way through this release, from the misleading and confusing initial announcements to the attempts at spin control in the wake of the uproar. Trying to determine why this happened would be sheer speculation on my part, but I think the attention paid to the TypePad launch and the accompanying loss of focus on MT, plus the rapid expansion of the company, may have had something to do with it. I think the lesson to be learned here for any business is that if you stop talking to your customers - and now that SA wants money, they're customers - you pay dearly for it. Calling your users names, or acting like they're a bunch of childish freeloaders, is not going to work.

In keeping with this, I don't understand the people defending Six Apart who act as though the free market has suddenly disappeared and people are now somehow obligated to buy MT licenses. It's as simple as this; Six Apart said they were going to do one thing. They did another. Whether what they did was necessary for the growth of the business or not is irrelevant to the needs of the people buying the licenses. If the userbase thinks the prices are reasonable, they'll buy licenses. If they don't, they won't, and they'll find other software. It's how it works. If you've pissed off the userbase that much, you did something wrong somewhere. People aren't going to buy licenses because you think Ben and Mena are swell folks with good ideas, or because "people need to realize that software costs money." People will buy licenses if Six Apart is able to create the perception that the software has value worth the amount of money they're asking for it. I think the situation may be improving, but so far, they haven't done that. Telling them that it's worth it because SA "needs to eat" won't do it.

Many people feel as though the trust between them and Six Apart has now been broken and they need to explore their options. I don't hope SA goes under, I will probably purchase a license, but this attitude that they're doing us a great favor by providing the software is just ridiculous. SA is free to charge whatever they think the market will bear. The user base is as free to decide to buy it or not.

The way to avoid dealing with this crap is to not pull this kind of crap.