Trailblazin Ministries Blog: Software Disconnect

Tech Stuff

Software Disconnect

Written by LaRosa Johnson
Monday, 17 December 2007
Filed under: Ministry, Tech Stuff

Within this past week, Six Apart released their flagship software application Movable Type as open source software (known as MTOS). Movable Type is the software that I use to power this blog and the Trailblazin Ministries website. I have been using their software for websites & blogs for several years now, and have witnessed the evolution into a very solid application that does everything I need it to do and more (for the most part). Now that they have an open source version, I applaud them even more.

Over the weekend, I've spent a considerable amount of time on the discussion groups going back and forth with developers and users of the software as we try to figure out the new licensing terms and so forth. Admittedly, I have spent more time there this weekend than I wish I had, but it has caused me to sit back and assess things in terms of how I am using the software. Like, will I upgrade to this new version of MT? The quick answer is probably so, as there are some bug fixes that were preventing me from doing things in the current version that I have. But when will it stop? That's the question that's been at the forefront of my mind.

For the most part, the current version of Movable Type that I am running does everything that I need it to do in order to run Trailblazin Ministries and post from this blog, even having the ability to write & publish documents via my smartphone. Currently, I keep things pretty simple and I'm not doing a lot that is extremely complex, but even with that I have the room to expand and do more if I see fit in the future. Since that is the case, what keeps me upgrading to the latest version of the software if what I have now works just fine? Where do I draw the line between being a person who tinkers with web design/programming and allowing my ministry to just work with what it has now?

Take, for example, the current version I'm using (MT 4.01) and MTOS/MT 4.1 that is currently in beta. I have the beta version installed on my dev site and it presents some new/minor features that help in small ways, but is it really worth upgrading? I don't "need" it, but at the same time, it's nice to be running the latest version of the software. Even with that, I have come to realize that in some cases newer isn't always better. Like, in MTOS they changed the page for creating a new entry and I'm not particularly fond of it, although I love the way that it is right now. Do I make the switch and just adjust or keep what I have now?

I don't know... I don't have the answer, and will likely upgrade when the time comes; I just know that I need to figure out when enough is enough in terms of development and to just keep what I have because it works.

Comments (2)

plasticmind.com wrote:
on December 17, 2007 11:13 AM

I think the real ideal, especially if you're talking about UI stuff, is to learn how to make use of the transformer plugins to customize the back end for yourself. Of course, you're the better coder than I am, so it should be a breeze for you, right? =)

LaRosa Johnson wrote:
on December 17, 2007 12:16 PM

Yeah, that probably really is the issue at heart is that I need to become more of a developer of MT so that I can keep things as consistent as possible. But then again, that brings up the question of whether or not I really want to spend my time trying to figure out how to write plugins, and then write my own.

I'm to the point right now where I'd rather have things just work and only have to be concerned with minor fixes/changes here & there, instead of trying to overhaul stuff or tweaking it to work like I want it to. The main reason for that is because I'm seeing how limited my time is and I need to decide where I'm going to put my energies. So, for me, it's: 1) do I put my energy into making things work like I want them to for the ministry, or 2) do I learn to adjust and deal with the minor inconvenience of change so that I can focus more of my energies on doing ministry stuff? That's the big question, and at this point I'm leaning heavily towards the 2nd option as opposed to the first.

But you're right, the ideal is to figure it out, maybe in stages as a hobby when I'm not doing ministry stuff. My task is to not let it get in the way though, because I'm good for wanting to see a task through to the end once I get it started (that or not finishing it at all LOL).

lj.