inessential by Brent Simmons

Congratulations!

Congratulations to the Movable Type folks! It all sounds like great news.

I should note that doing hosting is difficult. It has the potential to be a Vietnam for any company whose main thing is software development.

That’s not to meant to be discouraging—I’m just saying that it’s important not to underestimate the amount of person-hours it can take to keep it going. Even with great software (which they definitely have) on a solid platform, weird, difficult surprises are inevitable.

But it’s do-able. And I think it’s the right move for them, and I’m glad they’re doing it.

(By the way—I happen to be working on NetNewsWire’s Movable Type editing support this week, adding new features. If things go well, a public beta will be available later next week. I’m also adding not-on-home-page support for Radio UserLand editing.)