Movable Type vs. WordPress
I have a great deal of respect for Mike Rundle, one of the founders of 9rules design network; so when I found out he was waxing eloquent about Movable Type and WordPress, I was interested. After reading his level-headed discussion at BusinessLogs, I thought I'd share some of my own opinions about the contrasts between these two hotly contested blogging platforms:
I climbed aboard the MT boat about a year and a half ago, so I'm a bit of a latecomer to all of this. A few thoughts from an avid MT supporter who hangs out with avid WP supporters:
First, there will always (?) be the divide between MT's and WP's pricing. I completely understand Six Apart's reasoning behind charging for the business platform: investment capital. Companies support a team that in turn supports a product and enhances that product. The drawback however is that as all our web design younglings get their hands on free copies of WP, they become familiar with it and--you know the drill--you often use (and suggest to customers) what you know.
Second, I agree that MT's install is difficult. I can do it now in about 7 minutes flat, but most people I know could not do it on their own. We throw around 'chmod' and 'set up databases' like they're out of a children's book. But remember from whence we came; we were not always so smart. So we realize that MT requires a bit more know how, but is the payoff worth it?
It has been in my case. Typical scenario: Client A asks me to design a site. I suggest MT to power it. I install, I customize, I tweak until updating the site is easier than spitting watermelon seeds and the client never has to look at the templates. Thus PROGRAM INTERFACE takes precedence, and thus the native hue of WordPress is sicklied o'er with a pale cast of difficulty. In fact, despite that the MT interface is much easier to get around in, I still think there's much further to go towards making it easier, especially with the current explosion of Ajax-rich apps. If they can do it with TypePad, they should at least offer plugins to do it with MT.
Finally, there's the Six Apart factor. If a problem comes up with a WordPress installation, Company A rants to Web Designer Jones, the guy who installed it. Jones then turns to the WordPress community for answers. Now, in a perfect world, we'd all hold hands, dance naked with flowers in our hair and respond to a community need at the drop of a hat. But in the real world, a company is more likely to look for support from a company that gets paid to do what they need, rather than from a volunteer effort. Most decent sized companies don't mind throwing down a few hundred bucks for the peace of mind that comes with a company-backed product. (e.g. MS Office vs. OpenOffice)
I have not sworn allegience to any side, but I've really been satisfied with MT's community as well as the company. I guess I'd sum it up like this: WP may be easier to slip on and get comfortable in, like a pair of jeans you wear around the house; but when it's time for the business meeting, you take the extra time to shine the shoes, iron the shirt, knot the tie...
InterAction:
11 May 20062. Mike Randall:
filosofo - Thanks for your input. I personally have not worked with Wordpress. I have stuck with MT. I am open to seeing what it has to offer, though.
Speaking entirely from an enterprise viewpoint, I have found that many medium to large scale companies are regiscent to adopt an open source stance simply beacuse there is not single point for support and accountability. I am a HUGE Linux advocate having used it for nearly 15 years now and would love to see more large companies adopt it as a mainstream OS. (Fortunately, this is happening with the RedHat Enterprise linux space as well as a bunch of Linux based initiatives being touted by IBM; specifically by a good friend of mine.)
I have suggested the use of open source at my company on a number of occasions to ultimately hear that the company wanted a "single throat to choke" in cases of production failure. Sometimes it is as simple as that. A third party support agreement ultimately turns into a finger pointing session when the application/OS goes belly up. I have seen it happen this way on at least 3 occasions in the past 2 years. the companay that I work for would rather fork out a few extra $k to have a 24/7/365 number to reach than to take the chance that support would be nil or slow in response.
While I totally agree with using open source products, I must agree with Jesse's statement that MT is better positioned to serve the enterprise because Six Apart is a single company supporting their flagship product.
12 May 20063. Jesse Gardner:
Mike, you've really spoken my mind.
Austin, don't get me wrong; I wasn't trying to disparage WordPress. I'm certainly not a fanboy. I was just trying to share a trend I've noticed among larger business. I'm also not discounting the importance of community; without it I wouldn't have gotten to where I am today.
Let me quote a recent comment by Mark Carey on MT's ProNet (not re: WordPress, but the principle fits). "Often times, companies select one product over another not solely for the current feature set, but also for the
future direction of the product." Perhaps this explains why corporations are less likely to pour cash into developing a site around a product that belongs to no one.
17 May 20064. LaRosa Johnson:
i've always been torn between these two pieces of software. i found MT first, so that has always been my first choice. i mean, once you learn something, what's the point of changing if it works? the only thing i don't like about MT is that it's written in CGI/Perl, which is a language i have yet to understand, so writing plugins ain't going to happen anytime soon.
when i found wordpress, i loved the look of the interface because it was very clean & simple; even simple enough for my wife to use. i also fell in love with the fact that it was written in PHP because that's my programming language of choice. the only thing about WP is that without a lot of hacking, it didn't do the things i needed for it to do, so i always opted for MT. MT allowed me to do things by just adding a new template, whereas I'd have to find all kinds of work arounds for WP.
who knows, maybe one of these days i'll go back to WP and figure it out like I want. until then, i guess i'll be an MT guy.
YourThoughts?
(Minutia)
This entry was written by Jesse on Thursday, May 11, 2006 at 12:07 AM and appears in the 0's and 1's chapter. The previous article was entitled, "Carbon County, PA", and the next entry is called, "These Are a Few of My Unfavorite Things". Bookmark the permalink, save it to del.icio.us or Digg it.
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11 May 20061. filosofo:
I can't really speak to MT vs. WP as products, not having used MT, but I think your characterization of WordPress support is inaccurate. You seem to imply 1) that the volunteer WordPress support is inadequate and 2) that there is something inferior about getting support from someone not the original developer.
The first point simply isn't supported by the facts. The WordPress support forum is well-known for being helpful. As someone who has participated on the forum, both giving and receiving help, I know first-hand that responses are most often clear and helpful. I can't recall anyone dancing around naked.
The second point isn't accurate in general, nor with regards to WordPress in particular. In general, plenty of companies use open source products (such as Linux) and pay a third party to support that product. Even when you do buy a product, such as Windows, unless you're a major company with a contract with Microsoft most likely you will get support either in-house or from a third party.
With WordPress in particular, if someone believes that the free support is inadequate, there are a number of ways to easily pay for WordPress support. And because the WordPress core isn't developed by an exclusive company, the pool of developers is much broader, increasing the flexibility and variability of the pricing and type of support you can get.
By the way, I really like your new blog design, but why does Mario show up on previews?