We launched a new sixapart.com a couple of days ago, and I'm so proud to work with the team that built and implemented such a beautiful and useful site!
(Oh, and we also made some other exciting announcements, which as Mena says, bring back some memories of how we evolved.)
So, you know, Movable Type was released 4 years (and 1 day) ago, & to me, that's pretty astonishing.
This has been in the back of my mind all weekend [2], but I couldn't really think of what to write.
So what got me thinking tonight was reading Nick's post about Movable Type, and realizing (once again) what is, in retrospect, pretty obvious: that this is about so much more, & involves so many more people, than when Mena & I first released MT in 2001.
So I think that, for me, that is what marks the 4th anniversary of Movable Type's release: the people we have at Six Apart, the people we've inspired in the community, and all of the people using our tools (Movable Type, TypePad, and LiveJournal) in general.
Or put another way: what marks this 4th anniversary most, for me, is the fact that it's not only me, Mena, or Anil writing about it. It's not just us remembering how much we've changed in the past 4 years, and how weblogging in general—and in a lot of cases, Movable Type, TypePad, or LJ, specifically—has played a part in that. And there are so many more than just us who are coming to work every day & working to build tools for the future of blogging. [3]
For me, one mark of the success of any software or service is its relative ubiquity. At first, the fact that people used MT without knowing about its history used to feel a bit weird, because it grew out of such a personal need, and Mena & I always felt so connected with it. But the fact that there are millions of people using Movable Type who don't even know or care that this is the 4th anniversary of its release is, in a way, the best indicator we could have about how much it's grown in 4 years, and continues to grow.
What Movable Type's release 4 years ago symbolizes most to me, in other words, is the beginning of everything that's led to today, something that I always marvel at, and kind of have to pinch myself about: that Six Apart is a company of about 100 people, around the world, who are doing great things, & who I'm incredibly proud and happy to work with.
So, happy birthday, Movable Type, and Six Apart by extension!
[1] Yes, an obvious misquote, but what was I to do? I couldn't think of any good quotes or lyrics or song titles about 4 years, so I had to remix (how Web 2.0!) another.
[2] While I've been writing about my usual subjects.
[3] Of course, some of this applies to last year, too—but I'm comparing all the way back, to 2002, 2003, etc. And things have changed a lot.
Mena has a great post up on Mena's Corner today, talking about the good aspects of being a (relatively) big company. It's funny, because in the grand scheme of things, Six Apart is such a small company. Particularly when you realize that we have 3 proper products, and physical presence in 3 different continents—then a company with less than 100 people doesn't seem quite as big.
Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson from 37 Signals have both responded to Mena's post on their own weblogs (this is the beauty of blogs, people, in action!). From their responses, I wonder whether they took Mena's post as criticism of being small—I certainly didn't read it that way, and not only because I'm biased, but because it was one of the most reasoned, non-defensive posts Mena's ever written, in my opinion. [1]
What Mena, Jason, and David seem to agree on—even if it's the one thing that they all may think they don't agree on—is that different companies need different sizes to succeed in the markets in which they're doing business.
Believe me, both Mena and I really, really understand the appeal of being small—for sheer productivity, nothing compares to the month (1 fucking month!) in which we developed the first Movable Type release. But we never would have been able to produce three product releases in one 2-week period as a 2-person team! And we never would have been able to create a Japanese version of Movable Type 3.2 in only a couple of weeks, either.
So that is one of the key benefits of growing (again, relatively) big—being able to expand your goals & your ambitions to multiple products, around the world.
[1] Last night, I was reading in bed while Mena was writing this post, and I just kept hearing her typing and typing. And I thought, oh shit, it's another 10,000-word Kottke response. But all bias aside, I thought her post was incredibly succinct, and really made me remember how much I love this company & the things we've accomplished.
Tonight we were on Headline News (live!) talking about TypePad. No, I don't know why I look so mean. I thought I was smiling a slight smile that made me look confident and relaxed, but instead I look like I'm really, really mad. Ah well--it was a neat experience, albeit frightening, and I think overall it came off really well.
