WordPress Grows Up Before Our Eyes
 p_cred: Laughingsquid |
 p_cred: Laughingsquid |
Big congrats to Matt Mullenweg and the entire WordPress development community. In just a month there have already been 100,000+ downloads of the newest version (1.5) of their great open source blogging software.
I first starting using WordPress (v1.01) in February of ‘04 for Dogster’s Site Updates. In fact it’s the only 3rd party code anywhere in Dogster. I chose it as an open source alternative to the great Movable Type 2.7 which was free for personal use only. Since then I’ve hacked that version to bits to support doing concurrent posts to the Catster Site Updates and getting it’s content to display just we need throughout the site.
The 1.01 code was clean, but I must admit Ben Trott did something really special with Moveable Type v2. That code was so clean I could read it like sentences. After using it for friends projects such as Molly Golightly, 3580.com, I started encouraging clients to buy the inexpensive user licenses and use it as an amazing intuitive content management system. Examples can still be seen at the Move On site, Bush GreenWatch, and NY creative firm Ice Tea Productions. Or sometimes I would even roll my own.
But this journal is running my first install of WordPress 1.5. Moveable Type still makes great products but they are focused on one-click publishing or service-license software. In fact they have their eyes on much bigger sights, so for now, I’ll test out what the WordPress team has done.
It seems however that Matt has set his sights much higher too. At the the party he annouced the he had created Word Press Inc, and his first employee was the too-you-to-be avuncular Jonas Luster. Best of luck to them all.
As a coda, it’s funny to note that when Moveable Type started charging there was a rampage to WordPress as a remaining alternative. As WordPress grows I’m sure their older versions will still be free and even supported by open source warriors, but a crack has again opened up in the evolutionary cycle and I bet some scrappy new product will be happy to fill that devoided niche.
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Ex Post Facto
[Make sure to read Jonas' comment as my coda will not likely come true as I propose. WP plans to keep the services free forever and are following the great 'business' models of the Apache and Mozilla Foundations. Quite inspiring actually. Of course new variants of blogging software will be realesed open source, but they'll always be compared to WordPress, not considered a cheaper alternative.]
