On MovableType licensing

In the comments on my last post, someone pointed me to the new licensing terms for MovableType. I've read and re-read them, guzzled my morning Diet Coke, and re-read them and I stand by my interpretation last night: I cannot continue using myself or recommending MovableType.

There's a million CMS tools available, I've written a couple myself over the years, and I feel that MovableType is one of the best for its market. The key phrase there is for its market.

I got pointed to Mena's Corner: It's About Time and read that, and re-read it again. According to SixApart, the new licensing scheme allows and encourages the development of software and services paid or free. But, I've read that thing a number of times and I know I'm not a lawyer, but I don't see any text or phrases which address that goal.

It's an unfortunate turn. My goal was to use MovableType as part of a package but that seems impractical now. I can't recommend a set of tools to client which become more restrictive as they get popular within the organization.

Perhaps there's a Developer's License or a System Integrator's License hiding on the movabletype.org or sixapart.com websites, but I don't see any indication of either existing.

The problem for me isn't the cost, it's the restrictions. I've learned a lot from my experiments with MT, but rather than re-investing that experience back into MT I'll invest it elsewhere.

Godzilla! (1954)

We met up with Wayne and Amy for an early dinner at Monster Sushi in the village. The choice of restaurant was completely, and totally intentional as the event for the evening was a screening of Godzilla (Gojira) at Film Forum.

This screening was based on the original 1954 Japanese film with some 30 minutes added. The original film is not what you normally see in the US. For starters its anti-nuclear stance coupled with references to the then-recent war were (and are) contrary to the US view of the way the world should be.

For whatever reason I was struck by how this must have been received by the Japanese audience in 1954. The war was relatively recent, there's various references to being evacuated again, various people have war-related scars, there's even a reference to someone having survived Nagasaki. I should mention I don't understand much japanese other than iee or hi so I was relying entirely on the subtitles.

I haven't seen the US version in many years, and don't recall much about it other than Raymond Burr is in many scenes as an American reporter, and the story line is completely different.

Anyway...if you're up for such things, I highly recommend seeing this release of the movie. I thought the print was rather dark, otherwise I enjoyed it.