MovableType officially launched MT 3.3 today (somehow I thought they had already done this but perhaps it was a beta release), and the enhancements are rather underwhelming from my reading of it. I feel like this is a browser war all over again, but really, MT is not offering anything “new” to the blogging world with this release. In fact, WordPress has had the capability of these announced changes for quite some time now:
- Tags: Readers can find content more easily and subscribe to custom feeds.
- Widgets: Arrange and re-arrange your page by dragging and dropping.
- Activity Feeds: Get updates on comments, feedback, and blog activity delivered via a secure feed.
Granted, tags has not been around as a core component of WordPress, but tag plugins are in abundance (notably the fabled Ultimate Tag Warrior) and are as much mainstream in the WordPress community as any other feature.
As for activity feeds – yes. Add a /feed on just about any WordPress URL and have subscription feeds. I’m unclear on the “secure feed” part, so I’ll give SA the benefit of the doubt to explain that to me. Is it HTTP authentication? MT user accounts required? Please explain.
So if you have a MT blog and want to get the free upgrade (MT 3.x+), go get it and report back.
