Comments on: Is Six Apart Services Killing Smaller Movable Type Designers and Developers?

By: Bruce Prochnau

Bruce Prochnau — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 09:51:00 +0000

SA stating that they want to “empower” developers is patent nonsense and double speak.
They state they are going to be developers and designers of their own software for those wanting a website.

Saying this does not cut out smaller developers is incomprehensible and defies common sense.

The most recent I have seen is them thinking of watching over developers, to me a way of gaining control over who works with the software for their customers, and likely weeding out those who don’t buy into the party line.

All this makes me move further away from MT as a developer, not that I cannot compete, but on principles.

By: Ann Ray

Ann Ray — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:38:38 +0000

There’s always room for many players, but a challenge for the third parties–like me in another niche–is that most customers start with the publisher. While the most experienced consultants/devs are often not at the publisher (or not talking to the general public), screening third parties is its own hurdle when one is shopping.

Despite the hope that Six Apart is just going after the big guys, they do have a SMB offering:
http://www.sixapart.com/services/bloggers-small-business/

Though I’m leery of what I’d get in a $200 prefab package. Or maybe it’s just because what I want always falls outside standard services ;-)

One niche I haven’t seen either Six Apart or the community serving is coaching. As I built my new blog (hopefully switching DNS today!) I would have loved to shortcut my learning curve by spending an hour or three picking an expert’s brain.

By: Mike Rundle

Mike Rundle — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:26:01 +0000

Hey Thord, thanks for the link.

Jesse, I read your comments at TechCrunch before writing my entry and obviously respect your opinions on this matter since we’ve both been working with MT for a long time. Although Anil has said that they’re not looking to take any work away from MT developers with the acquisition, I think that still needs to be seen. Apperceptive was a growing company with a growing client base, and if there’s money to be made then I can’t see Six Apart not going after it. I don’t think that 6A will be going after small-to-medium individual blogs (normally the realm of the independent developer) but larger-sized social sites, however who really knows.

By: Jesse Gardner

Jesse Gardner — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:40:02 +0000

I’m a Movable Type developer and I have to say I embrace these new services wholeheartedly.

I have quite a lot of thoughts on the matter, most of which I’ve already shared over at my blog; but I’ll summarize:

* It’s in Six Apart’s best interest to keep their developers happy. Poaching customers from developers is the quickest way to sink their own ship, and they’ve already affirmed both privately and publicly that they want to enable developers, not steal from them.

* Creating a service branch of Six Apart helps to legitimize the platform by making it much more appealing for very large corporate customers who wouldn’t even begin to consider using Movable Type without official implementation.

* Opening the upper end of the customer base helps to bring in even more “trickle-down” work for developers.

* The product will ultimately be more useful because Six Apart will not only be developing the product, they will be developing *with* the product. This breeds a whole lot more practicality and sympathy with developers.

* As Six Apart starts creating things *with* their software, the perceived need for stable APIs and comprehensive documentation will be even greater and will ultimately strengthen the community and the platform.

In my humble opinion, I think it’s going to be a good thing. But then, I’ve been wrong before.