So pretty much everyone has heard the rumors that ***Six Apart|http://www.sixapart.com/***, makers of the ***Movable Type|http://www.movabletype.org/*** software that we use here at prwdot.org, was going to buy ***LiveJournal|http://www.livejournal.com/***, a community blogging site. Well, those rumors ***are true|http://www.sixapart.com/log/2005/01/six_apart_acqui.shtml***. There are plenty of good links to be had elsewhere, so I figured I would provide some unique content here.
Q: What does this mean to prwdot.org?
A: Not a whole lot. The blogs at prwdot.org are powered by Movable Type, which is a product of Six Apart, the company that purchased LiveJournal. We won’t be switching to LiveJournal, and from the other FAQ’s that I’ve read, LiveJournal won’t be integrated into any other Six Apart products. It remains to be seen what type of ripple effects this acquisition will have on Six Apart and their other products. I know that acquisitions are often quite expensive for the purchasing company, and can set them back significantly in terms of their overall financial strength. So hopefully they can make the most out of this opportunity.
Q: Does World Wide Wood know anyone who would be affected by this?
A: Well, our friend ***Jenny Rainville|http://www.livejournal.com/users/raingirl3179/*** is a LiveJournal user. From what I understand, the benefits will be mostly positive for her. Six Apart does not have any (announced) plans to get rid of LiveJournal. From what I’ve read, they have only the best of intentions. So Jenny’s blog should stay around for the forseeable future. Maybe there’s a chance that she and other LiveJournal users would get some cool features like the ability to accept comments from people outside of LiveJournal without jumping through hoops, or other things like TrackBacks. But I don’t know about that.
Q: Where does ***Xanga|http://www.xanga.com/*** figure in to all of this?
A: Though they aren’t involved in the current Six Apart + LiveJournal deal, one can only hope that Six Apart will, in the near future, buy them out and kill off their god-awful blogging product. Seriously, with very few exceptions (e.g. ***Laura and Johnny|http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=DimbyRVin***), Xanga is just a dumping ground for crappy teeny-bopper blogs that look absolutely hideous.
Q: Did this buyout affect your ability to get to work this morning?
A: Most likely yes. When my car stalled out on the on-ramp to Route 128, and I couldn’t get it to come back to life, Six Apart was the first company I thought to call. Unfortunately, after dialing their offices numerous times, I received only busy signals. I guess they were pretty busy. In any case, my second choice, ***AAA|http://www.aaa.com/***, was able to come and tow my car to ***Auto-Dyne|http://www.auto-dyne.com/*** within 15 minutes. If there’s anything seriously wrong, though, I’m sending the bill to Six Apart. If they can afford to buy LiveJournal, they can certainly afford to repair my car.
Q: Should I take this entire blog entry with a grain of salt?
A: Just a pinch will do!
I don’t like Xanga either, but I can’t imagine that one of the world’s most popular “blogging” services will die any time soon. My hope is that somehow it will morph into a better blogging product.
laughs Those last few questions were great. 🙂
Michelle – I’m glad you put “blogging” in quotes there. 🙂 I don’t think, for practical reasons, that it will die outright… Maybe if they are eventually purchased, they will be renamed Teeny-Blogger and will serve their current clientele until they realize that they would rather blog somewhere else, like Slivapartjournal, or Googger. Then Teeny-Blogger can die a quiet, painless death. 🙂 And, of course, I refer you again to the last question in my FAQ. 😉
Mike – Thanks. I thought so too. 🙂
Is your car officially dead, or could they revive it? Funny that the picture at the top of the page was of your car when I read this post…..
My car is being revived even as I write this, thanks to the good people at Auto-Dyne. Should be back in action later today.