jumping the snark
August 22, 2008 
I imagine Six Apart draw considerable comfort from the fact that the Matt/Lloyd tag team still considers them enough of a threat to attack them at every opportunity. Far worse to be Blogger, and too crap to be scary.
But then, Blogger’s not in direct competition. Blogger’s already been bought.
I imagine I am not the only person drawing amusement from the spectacle of Automattic and Six Apart scrapping it out to be perceived as the the most valuable acquisition. I know I shouldn’t laugh. Recessions are not funny. I suppose I’m laughing at the pretence that it’s about who makes the better software. That ceased to be the point a long time ago. And when it was the point, there was a lot less bitterness and fear floating round.
Goddamn credit crunch. You make the snark so much more serious.
Do you really think they’re trying to be bought?
On the WordPress side I haven’t heard anything like that in a long time. Getting Schneider and then going for VC money rather than setting yourself up to be bought seems strange, and he’s been at WP so long it doesn’t seem like he’s trying to set up any exit deals.
No VC invests money in a company without the prospect that they’ll make it back with interest somewhere down the line, and I doubt very much that Automattic’s investors are banking on making their profits from adsense on wordpress.com and Akismet licences.
I’m not saying that they’re looking to be bought in the immediate future; they’ll want to launch BuddyPress and TalkPress first to add value, so we’re talking a year or two down the line. But yes, getting bought seems to me a far more feasible exit route than an IPO.
I was going to leave this on Matt’s blog but considering he censors, I know it won’t remain there. I find it interesting that he calls it “a little harmless ribbing” but his comments are downright rude. I guess once again we see him acting in an ethical manner.
I have to admit that I can’t wait to see Automattic get bought out. Maybe someone from the buying company will encourage him to learn some manners and ethics.
Sadly, I don’t think so. The corporate world isn’t big on manners and ethics. And if they had a problem with Matt’s way of doing things, they’d buy Six Apart instead
It’s a dangerous game Matt and Lloyd are playing here, because flamewars have, if you’ll pardon the pun, a habit of backfiring. Unfortunately for them, Six Apart are miles better at sniping at their rivals without coming across as crude, panicky or unprofessional. This for example, is masterful in the way it not-quite-accuses Matt of ‘impropriety’. Matt’s probably capable of that kind of subtlety on a good day, but unfortunately his spats with Anil never seem to fall on good days.
Oh, and comments are being eaten on Lloyd’s blog again. Funny for a system which is supposedly so good at comments
Anyway, I made this response to this:
I found a link from Matt’s blog that links to the same site you
linked to in your post but this post has a mockery video to six
apart’s video here is the Link -> Movable Type Pro with Comments
IPO is not an option for them at all. Let’s not talk about money; how about others? It takes a fair amount of standardization unless one just try to snap the money and run away, Automattic people don’t have the guts to do that. And not to mention, Automattic won’t tolerate that kind of public scrutiny required by IPO process. Trying to persuade people buying them is the better way for making cheap moneys.
And attacking MT has another usage: now that everybody is concentrating on MT, let’s completely forget how WP sucks, because MT sucks. “See? They are using plain text passsword! 1,2,3, Laugh!” MT sucks automatically makes WP superior, and I guess this is the only way they can serve their ego. Attention diversion. That kind of cheap tactics has been used everywhere, WP people is definitely not the first one to invent it.
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