Is blogging software a commodity?
You know the saying, concentrate on your core business and leverage commodity software wherever possible. Well 2007 is almost here, and it is probably time to stop maintaining my own blog software when there are so many easy to use services available. The first one I am trying is Google’s Blogger, about 10 minutes of effort produced this:
http://www.dotnetworkaholic.com/blogger/index.html
Time saved from the NAS v’s File Server prompted me to this. In 1999 I had my own home brew TV PC which required enormous amount ‘nursing’. Just ripping a CD took 8 hours in 1999! Then came better capture software like Virtual Dub and home brew scheduling software, then Snapstream, the PVR250 capture card, the set-top boxes (my 6412 was too buggy/complex) and finally we have media easily available on the internet – take video podcasts for example. Each step reduced the time required for the geek hobby as it progressively became mainstream. Blogging is now mainstream enough that 99.9% of us should be able to live with a commodity engine. It has to be said that .Text and the DasBlog have served me well – my flat cap (a Yorkshire thing) is tipped to all involved.
So where is my time being spent, it is obviously not in writing many blog posts. Generating more passive income, that’s what! It is tempting to blog in this area, I almost had a serious rant when several financial bloggers published their networth, only one was over $500K. In the USA is all about perception, and anyone can be a self appointed expert with no experience required… which leads me back to the Right to Hire, Right to Fire post.
The Right to Hire, Right to Fire entry was only posted temporarily but will return. In 2009 I’ll have 20 years IT experience and hope to collate wisdom gained as a set of posts… As mentioned in the (in)famous post, I have been fired from two of my ~fifteen contracts; both where I was fighting very hard to do the right thing and save failing projects. Time has now passed and everyone involved in firing me in 2003 have now been let go for incompetence + the company only kept the two strong developers I recommended!
about 3 years ago
Paul
I have been debating that myself ever since I wanted to get a blog up and running. Why bother installing a blog engine when you have other options. I have been struggling to get DasBlog working on my host (1and1.com) with medium trust enabled. I have now zeroed in on using using subText just to get some meaningful use out of my hosting plan. Good luck with your new blog home.
about 3 years ago
You are totally right that installation is pain, beyond that maintenance of custom software is also a headache.
Hopefully engines like Blogger and subText will keep on top of new advancements. I remember spending a couple of hours researching + installing a captcha when comment spam took off. Blog engines are a commodity now I say