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Simon Phipps's personal commentary

Do VCs stop the Cluetrain?

Laudably, Six Apart have updated the terms of their license and deftly addressed the biggest problems (to do with personal use). A key indicator to the source of their real problems is there though:

One of the most valid comments we heard is that the personal licenses do not work well for many people who are currently using Movable Type. This surprised us because in a survey of 2500 people, a whopping 85% of respondents had 5 of fewer weblogs or authors. This help educate our final decisions about the weblog and author limits.

Now, doing market research is a very good thing, but was that all they went on? Once you get past the whining freeloaders who reject all pricing as improper, the heart of the issue is that while MT is the flagship of the massively connected conversation movement, it appears that the organisation driving it is now powered by more conventional forces such as the requirements of the VCs funding them and as such has dropped out of the conversation. In these Cluetrain days, that's fatal. It's not enough to listen to the conversation; success in business will increasingly depend on participating in the conversation.

posted at 11:16 AM (UK) | |