WordPress 2.5 is near release (and MoveableType SUCKS)

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WordPress 2.5 is near release (and MoveableType SUCKS)

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 9:48 AM | Web 2.0 Blogging

For all the dedicated Wordpress blog application users, good news is just around the corner. Wordpress 2.5 is about to be released and the folks at Six Apart have published a 2.5 upgrade guide (warning cheapshot marketing ploy page) that is a must read.

The MoveableType folks are using the announcement as a way to encourage WordPress users to move to MoveableType. Talk about dirty and underhanded. I personally hate, just hate it when companies do things like this. Six Apart should be ashamed for using such tactics.

Hey SixApart, YOU SUCK.

"As you might know, WordPress 2.5 is about to be released, and we wanted to encourage WordPress users to upgrade. To Movable Type.

The truth is, there are lots of good blogging tools out there, and they're all good at different things. But since upgrading from older versions to WP 2.5 can mean changes to your themes, plugins ("print your plugins list"!), and site, we thought we'd take a minute to explain why it may make sense to make those changes in Movable Type instead. For those people in the blogging community who've never taken a look, or who haven't seen MT in a while, you might just find some surprises." - Six Apart

I've used WordPress off and on for several years and have found Wordpress useful and fairly simplistic. I believe that the 2.5 release will be even better than the current version.

SUCKS

After SixApart's little sneakiness with the WordPress 2.5 announcement, I wouldn't recommend MoveableType to anyone. I guess the management at MoveableType are getting desperate for sales to stoop to such a stunt as this.

13 Comments

Comments

Posted by Sam on 3/11/2008 10:40 AM: I just moved from TypePad to WordPress around October of last year. I love the flexibility that I gained with that move, but the upgrades are a pain. Every one of them, since I made the move, have been labeled "urgent", for reasons of security, and it's difficult enough to get a blog set up the way you want it, without having to go back and do it all over again because of an upgrade.

To be fair, I haven't experienced a giant re-do, yet. But I'm thinking about skipping 2.5, just in case.
Posted by allen on 3/11/2008 10:49 AM: Hi Sam,
I hear you on painful and urgent upgrades. I've started using a file compare program, that allows me to merge changes from one file to another. WinMerge I think it is called. I put new the updated pages (web) in one folder, my current pages in another run WinMerge, compare that changes and merge in the changes from one version to another. I don't lose my customizations that way. I've even used it on bit site exports/imports and it works with nearly all file types.

I think WinMerge is still free
http://winmerge.org/
Posted by Ed Piman on 3/11/2008 10:49 PM: Install using svn and after that upgrades take roughly 10 seconds or so. The process is described at http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing/Updating_WordPress_with_Subversion
Posted by Allen on 3/11/2008 10:53 PM: Cool news Ed. Thanks!
Posted by ken on 3/12/2008 1:39 AM: I don't see what's "sneaky", "underhanded", "dirty", or "desperate" about a WP-to-MT upgrade guide. I'm a WordPress user, but upgrade time is a perfect opportunity to re-evaluate blog software (and let's face it: WP isn't exactly great software).

Can you explain what you mean by "things like this"? Should companies always be "ashamed" when they point out the strengths of their products compared to their competitors?
Posted by John on 3/12/2008 3:23 AM: Wordpress and Movable Type are both released by private companies. Given that 6A's announcement was made on an official blog and contained no factual errors, I don't see how it's particularly dirty. It's like Ford advertising that their truck is better than Chevy's.

As software consumers we should use all the information at hand, and some of that information will be provided by companies themselves.
Posted by allen on 3/12/2008 5:03 AM: John & Ken, A company that rides on the coattails of another company's product announcement is dirty marketing. It is unethical in my opinion. SixApart deserves to be lambasted publicly for such behavior
Posted by Wordpress Hut on 3/12/2008 5:26 AM: I seen this earlier today. Horrible. I love wordpress, and would love to really hear SixApart's thoughts on exactly why MovableType is better. I've used MT once for a client project and it was HORRIBLE.
Posted by allen on 3/12/2008 5:44 AM: Hi WordPress Hut,
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your opinion.
Posted by UmbralEchoes on 3/12/2008 10:07 AM: This is a pretty cheap shot, and spreading FUD to boot. Boo, MovableType.

As a note, the last link, toe the SixApart upgrade guide, is actually a link to the "upgrade to MovableType instead!" page.
Posted by Mr. Javo on 3/12/2008 11:17 AM: Which will be the upgrades on this wordpress version? whichever, why to change to movable type? they suck!
Posted by allen on 3/12/2008 12:52 PM: Hi Javo, Thanks for stopping by and I agree MT sucks.
Posted by Michael on 5/28/2008 4:48 PM: Ironically, the new version of MT just broke all my templates, so I googled 'Movable Type sucks' just for the hell of it and found your blog.

MT is the devil. If my employer didn't insist on it, I'd happily switch to Wordpress, which I've used and much, much prefer.

Oh, well -- back to rebuilding all the stuff that SixApart in their infinite wisdom has chosen to destroy.