Six Apart built its burgeoning weblog empire on a free piece of software that promotes goodwill and encourages people to use its paid service, Typepad. So what does the company do, now that it is a full-fledged company? It makes the new release of Movable Type surprisingly cost-prohibitive for most noncommercial users. I hope for Anil, Ben and Mena’s sake that this doesn’t create the backlash I think it will.
Update: In the scheme of things, MT’s cost structure isn’t particularly expensive. It feels expensive, because MT users are used to it being free. But $99 isn’t that much money; I regularly pay $39 to $79 for BBEdit releases, and they’re a similar company in size and stature. I’m a cheapskate with personal software licensing, but when I’m ready to add more publishers to my platform, I’ll be paying.
Update 2, May 17: Read Brad Choate’s piece on the matter, which sums it up nicely.