MTOS 4.1 - Movabletype Open Source

January 28, 2008 · Filed Under Web Publishing · Comment 

At the moment, there seems to be an embarrassment of riches as far as Open Source software releases go.

A few days ago, unnoticed by me at least, despite the fact that I had been checking on their site regularly, the chaps at movabletype.org (the open source division of Six Apart) made available the stable release of MTOS - Movable Type Open Source - 4.1.

We have also seen the long-awaited release of Joomla! 1.5 and it will probably not be too long before we see Drupal 6.0 available for download. WordPress 2.5 is not planned for release until March 2008.

MTOS is slightly different from the others in that it has hitherto been available either for a fee for commercial use or free for personal use: there have been restrictions on what you could do with it. There is still paid for commercial support and some extras are not free, but the central code is now available to do what you want with, under an open source licence.

To quote their own blurb:

The Movable Type Open Source Project is a community effort, led by Six Apart, devoted to creating an open source version of Movable Type, the award winning, ground breaking and revolutionary blogging platform. This open source version (or MTOS for short) will be free for anyone to modify, redistribute and use for any purpose that they choose. The Movable Type Open Source Project is more then just a piece of software however.

  • MTOS is an entire community of people devoted to making Movable Type better.
  • MTOS is a set of projects, including a full version of the core platform, designed to innovate upon how the world publishes online.
  • MTOS is a distribution of the core publishing platform licensed under an open source license.

The other major difference is that it uses cgi-perl scripts, so the installation is slightly different from what you may be used to with many LAMP CMS and blog software and you may be less happy to start editing code, but that obviously depends upon your skill level in Perl.

The main point in this regard is that you really need to decide what type of person you are when installing any software. To make a comparison with driving a car, are you someone who just gets in and expects it to go and takes it to the garage when it doesn’t; do you tinker with it on weekends and then have to get a friend to fix it when you break something; or do you regularly take the engine apart and uprate the suspension?

Most people probably fall within the ‘hope for the best and panic when things go wrong’ category.

MTOS probably compares most accurately with WordPress Mu in that it supports unlimited bloggers and blogs and allows you to create directories for your posted or paged content. This is not quite like installs of normal WordPress or Drupal or Joomla! in the sense that they occupy a directory, from which you can create sub-directories.

If you start looking at plugins, you may also see a difference compared with WordPress or Drupal, but a similarity with Joomla! in that many of them are commercial. As the MTOS community grows, it will remain to be seen whether there is a preponderance of people giving their efforts away free or if commercialism will predominate.

So, is it worth looking at? Absolutely!

There have been adverse comments about MTOS for what could be called political or cultural reasons, regarding the historical Movable Type licencing and strong loyalty to other systems, but if you are not blinded by any of this, MTOS is worth installing and playing with at least.

The only problem is that there is now almost too much choice. You really need to look at tools for jobs and the probable need for having several, rather than hoping that one will cover all your needs. In this regard, PrefPass may help your users to log in to different systems without feeling that it becomes just too much hassle to be bothered.

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Open Letter To Gordon Brown: The World Is Watching You

September 27, 2007 · Filed Under International, News, Politics, Web Publishing · Comment 

Dear Prime Minister

You have used strong language to express your outrage about what is happening in Burma and you have urged the world to take action in demonstrating their solidarity with both the Buddhist monks and their supporters in the general population.

You said:

The whole world is now watching Burma and its illegitimate and repressive regime should know that the whole world is going to hold it to account. The age of impunity in neglecting and overriding human rights is over.

I think the international pressure that can be made to be felt in the next few days is incredibly important. I want to see the whole of the world getting together on this.

The world is getting together in any way it can, whether it is blogging or signing online petitions or donating money or just offering words of support and encouragement to those who are managing to get information out of Burma to the rest of the world, usually at great risk to themselves.

So, the world is also now watching you and other world leaders to see what you are actually doing, rather than merely saying.

The United Nations seems to have spectacularly failed to do anything. It seems its hands are tied when Burma is not threatening the security of any other country, especially when China and Russia might threaten to use their vetoes. To send a man to talk to the military junta somehow seems a rather lame response.

Of course, you could simply say that there are diplomatic efforts happening in the background which cannot be made public. This will do nothing to make people believe that anything contructive is happening.

You could just sit on your hands and wait for the situation to be resolved, probably with a massacre of the monks and civilian population and afterwards say you did your best, but nothing could really be done to help them. Perhaps events unfolded too fast. Perhaps we have to keep to the rule of established committees and bureaucracies. Perhaps it did not really matter all that much and when you said the world was watching, what you meant was that the world was waiting for a soundbite from you.

The question, however, will forever remain: what did you actually do? We know what you have said. What are you doing?

People have been pleased with the idea that you are guided by a “moral compass”. If at any time you could demonstrate what that means, that time is now.

Your Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, said that we need institutions which “redefine the global rules for our shared planet”, so that countries such as Burma are made to feel it is better to play by those rules rather than ignore them. Mr Miliband also said: “I for one thought it was brilliant to see Aung San Suu Kyi alive and well outside her house last week … I think it will be a hundred times better when she takes her rightful place as the elected leader of a free and democratic Burma.”

Fine words indeed, but none the less mere words.

The world is changing. The world is watching and the world is waiting.

It is waiting to see what you and other world leaders actually do when the world is in agreement about the need for action. This time, words alone will not be enough.

The way you are seen to help protect the human rights of those abroad will forever reflect on the way you are perceived to be the custodian of human rights at home, whether in a crisis or just in the day-to-day events which comprise the lives of ordinary people.

So, yes, the eyes of the world are watching Burma. They are also watching you and every other political and business leader who can bring moral outcomes to the situation.

Yours sincerely

John Stevens

PS The blogging world has kept up a momentum of pressure concerning Burma, along with the conventional news media. In the spirit of maintaining that essential pressure, anyone is welcome to copy, post, distribute, translate or otherwise publish this letter in any way they see fit for the purpose of helping to change the world for the better and to assist any and all oppressed people anywhere.

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Blogging For Burma

September 26, 2007 · Filed Under International, News, Politics, Web Publishing · Comment 

Just read the following at: http://www.blog.neverthesamerivertwice.com/2007/09/25/blogging-for-burma/

You can blog here: http://notesandcomments.com/guestblog/

In Burma (Myanmar), thousands of Buddhist monks are marching through the streets every day to protest against more than 40 years of dictatorship. They are joint by major parts of the population. In the past, any anti-government protests have been stopped by the army with fierce violence and the arrest of the protestors. So, far, the military has not intervened on these latest civil movement.

We want to tell to the Government of Myanmar: the community of bloggers - and therefore the world - is watching every step you take. Do not excert any violence on the peaceful protesters.

We want to tell to the monks and to the people of Myanmar: you are not alone. The time for change in Myanmar has come and the people of Myanmar have a right to enjoy the same economic growth than your neighbouring countries and the increase of democratic rights.

So, we ask all blogs to post this message. Feel free to translate this message into your language. If you are a blog reader, write a message to your favourite blogs and ask them to participate in this joint action. Please follow the news on BBC World or any other news channel.

We further ask you to report us that you have posted this message. Please go to
http://cf.humap.com/tool/quout_login.php?passwd=burma and enter your blog name, the URL, and the estimated number of readers.

Thank you for you support.

Deeper analyses of the current situation can be found at
GET TO KNOW BURMA SO CALLED MYANMAR
The Bloggers from Burma: You Are Truly Ours

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