SixApart releases Movable Type 4 under a free license.

SixApart has released a new beta version of Movable Type, a popular blogger content management system. The fourth version of MT is the most important release since 2004.

The sensationalism of this release imparts an unexpected announcement by SixApart: it officially announced that it will publish the source code for Movable Type 4 under a free license before the end of Q3. 2007



The solution to “free” Movable Type looks like a correction of its own error, because this system has always been considered free. Everyone treated the program like open source, but in 2004, SixApart drastically changed the licensing terms. This caused a massive migration of users to the open source WordPress platform, so in the blink of an eye, Matt Mullenweg became king . Now SixApart hopes to push the paste back into the tube.



In 2004, SixApart experienced difficult financial times and had no choice but to tighten the licensing terms for the Movable Type. Now the situation has changed, other products have appeared, so the company can afford to abandon this source of income. This is the official position of SixApart, according to the company's vice president . Like other leaders, he refuses to admit the mistake of 2004.



From a functional point of view, MT4 is a much more advanced system than MT3. The fourth version has more than fifty new features, including a step-by-step installation and upgrade wizard, an improved interface, more convenient and powerful template management, as well as many new templates and themes.

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One of the main innovations is features aimed at social functionality, so that a full-fledged social Web 2.0 service can be built on the MT platform and a user community can be organized. For example, blog readers can post their photos, videos and voice messages in the comments, format text in ways never seen before in a WYSIWYG editor. MT blogs will have embedded votes, ratings, ratings, etc.



via TechCrunch