The Article Writer

Like so many other WordPress users, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the official release of version 2.5, recognizing that the next generation of WordPress will offer solid improvements over version 2.3.3. I made mention of some of the key changes on my SEO blog yesterday, highlighting several special features.

From WordPress To Movable Type

As WordPress sets to roll out yet another update, a competing blog platform owned by Six Apart, Movable Type (MT), is urging WordPress users to upgrade too. But, not to WordPress 2.5.

Instead, Anil Dash in his A WordPress 2.5 Upgrade Guide, is urging WP users to make the switch to MT to avoid having to change themes, update plug-ins, etc.

WordPress has had some security issues over the past several months, which have taken the sheen off of an otherwise robust CMS platform. Quite a few blogs have been hacked as security loopholes were exploited, exposing some blogs to criminal mischief.

12 Blogs — All WordPress

Dash’s pitch to WordPress users has resulted in some back and forth sniping between senior managers of both companies (I won’t go into that here), but it probably has encouraged some diehard WP users to at least look into MT, myself included.

I am currently managing 12 blogs with one being a test blog that I use to try out themes, plug-ins, advertising, and the like. I plan on switching that blog to MT in the near future to see how MT performs, but I’ll likely upgrade the other 11 to WP 2.5.

For now, I’m loyal to WordPress, but if I find something that works out better I may switch some of my blogs over to that platform.

My most recent post mentioned that Yahoo! was giving one thousand workers the heave in a bid to maximize profits. They aren’t losing money — they just aren’t making as much of it as they want. What a pity — tsk tsk!

Turns out that my rant may have caught the attention of some folks in Redmond, WA who decided to offer the internet giant $44.6 billion for their business. Yes, Bill Gates and company are avid The Article Writer readers and have decided to step in and allow Microsoft to snag Yahoo! thanks to me.

I want a referral fee!

Sure, let me dream or have my fifteen seconds of delirium — but the fact remains this: Microsoft wants the Big Y!

I’m not too surprised to see this offer come forth, though I would have preferred to have learned that it is was the other way around: the Big Y! buying the Big M. Somehow, a internet juggernaut controlled by the same people who brought to us Windows VISTA, Internet Explorer and MS Outlook doesn’t tickle my fancy. Rather, it makes me think that this whole internet thing will soon be run by a small group of corporate titans who care not for the little guy.

My utopian dreaming aside, the earlier days of the modern internet era were kind of fun, but since Google intervened everything is getting, well, organized that I am envisioning some sort of toll road appearing down the line. In order to continue using these wonderful innovations which are now currently free (for the most part), we’ll be expected to pony up some cash.

Will Yahoo! accept Microsoft’s offer? By every indication they’ll give it their full consideration. My best guess is that the answer to this question will be yes.

Ugh — say it isn’t so! On the heels that its profits have slipped by 23% in the fourth quarter, internet giant Yahoo! is ready to pink-slip as many as 1000 employees to help restore financial order.

Before anyone begins to think that Yahoo! is losing money, they aren’t. Profits for the fourth quarter were $206 million compared to $269 million for the same period a year earlier. The Big Y! is reacting to a loss in profits and is not losing money overall — ignore the pundits who are saying that the company is losing money as they are simply making less of it.

Welcome to the working world of today — if profits are down, you react and kick your talent to the curb instead of leveraging your “resources” and moving forward.

I am so glad that I am self-employed.