Hot 'Free' to Fee Transition at Six Apart!

If you think it's now easier to introduce a service for a fee when its current user base was used to getting it for free, think again and see the heat Six Apart (the software vendor behind Movable Type and TypePad) is getting after it introduced its MT 3.0 pricelist yesterday. There's definitely room for improvement in a pricing structure that looks somewhat stuck between what's standard for online apps and what's done in the world of enterprise software, but at the same time there's still going to be a limited product for free and no-one forces you to upgrade if you don't like the new deal.

I expect Six Apart to rephrase some awkard restrictions, create smoother upgrade paths where needed (for instance for current beta users who weren't told this was coming), and provide a more flexible model for those corporations they now target explicitely. On the other hand, no matter the (feigned) outrage, they need to stick to their guns and run this as a business, nice happy vibe or not. This will be interesting to watch.

05/17/04 update: Changes in and clarifications about the licensing terms.

06/16/04 update: more changes.