Ponderance

(May 2003 - March 2007.) Tama's thoughts on the blogosphere, podcasting, popular culture, digital media and citizen journalism posted from a laptop computer somewhere in Perth's isolated, miniature, urban jungle ...

Bad Journalism

Monday, June 28, 2004
For a minute there, I thought that The Age was being naive enough to suggest that blogging was brand new. Then, as I continued reading Mike Barton's "Blog, baby, blog" article, I realised it was the longest advertisement I'd read in a long time. After comparing three blog engines (Blogger, LiveJournal and Moveable Type), Barton then adds a hosting service to the mix and concludes that it's a better deal! An excerpt:
Google Blogger
Price: Free (for ad-supported hosting)
Rating: ***½
Website: blogger.com
Blogger is making a clear pitch to the beginners. It doesn't get any easier than this, and Audioblogger is cool, but it still trails TypePad in features. Google has also cleverly added a Blogger button to its Internet Explorer toolbar, making posting as you surf a snap. Finding and meeting friends using profiles is an interesting new feature. If you want to get rid of the ads and be able to upload images, Blogger's hosting upgrade option starts at $US5 a month.

Platform Networks' Power-Weblogger plan

Price: $20 setup, $10 per month.
Rating: ****½
Website: platformnetworks.net
MovableType 3.0 installed ($20) and hosted for $10 per month is a bargain. For that price, you get 100MB of disk space and 2000MB of bandwidth per month, as well as unlimited email addresses for your domain. Movable Type is powerful but easy to use and won't take a lot of time to get rolling, especially given the good basic templates. If you need more than one person to contribute to the blog, you will need to upgrade Movable Type, which will cost $69 and includes web-based support.
And ...
The verdict

With unlimited email accounts, your own web server space, your choice of Movable Type or WordPress installed, and domain registration all in one place, Platform Networks's Power-Weblogger hosting package offers the most bang for the Aussie buck. Movable Type is the best choice for your installation if you're just getting started and want to get running with sharp looking default templates. Platform also offers domain registration (required), but cheaper options such as GoDaddy.com are available.
I hope The Age was paid impressively by Platform Networks, because the credibility of this article and technology section in general is laughable after this "effort"!

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