The recent flap over the release of Movable Type 3.0D and the associated license agreement had caused me to pause and reflect on my usage and satisfaction with MT, and in so doing to consider alternatives. And for me, what I saw different from when I first shopped around for weblog software three years ago was that a wider variety of applications are now available. After a review of many of them, I decided to go with WordPress.
Cons of MT: open code but not open source; PERL-coded; static pages required inordinate amount of time for rebuilds, new post posting, and comment posting; stagnated for years with regards to the number of new features; a pain to customize the code to my liking.
But, it was free enough. Not any longer, not after I’ve seen the alternative.
Pros of WP: open source (GPL); PHP-coded; zippy performance; active and friendly user and development community, with regular participation of the core developers; a vital and growing user and developer base; easy to use, easy to customize; interface is more to my liking.
For some reason WordPress has me fired up in a variety of ways. Maybe I’m picking up on some of the energetic vibe of the WP community. I’ve already begun converting some of my weblogs over to WP and plan to finish converting them all soon. I started this site, a tech link and info weblog, in part because, unlike my time as a user of MT, I am keen on contributing to the development of the weblogging application.