SixApart To Launch Comet, Renamed Vox, on June 1

i dont like the interface design….the design looks much better in the video from the DEMO confrence.

One of the main reasons why people create blogs is to make money. Blogging has not only changed the face of the internet as we know it but also added a whole new functionality to it.

You don’t need a web designer anymore to make a startup blog, a better looking one will definitely requiring some tweaking no doubt.

I just see that only wordpress with its free download and easily customizable interface will be the market leader soon. Widgets are just great on a site.

I see this going the way of blogger, free with a lot of junk in it.

I think it’s pretty cool. Definitely an AIMpages rival, considering the aggregation features. I guess this is where all these platofrms are headed - towards digital lifestyle aggregation (as Marc Canter calls it).

yes Pete ..Hits it bang on.. “towards digital lifestyle aggregation ” !!

Myspace, Friendster an’t Kewl anymore.. so whats next ?? 6Apart is entering this space at the right time and addressing the low noise area.

I think its lame that this COMET has a “TAGS” section ( as well as LiveJournal) but Typepad does not. What’s up with that?

There is another startup that goes by Vox for short, voxtropolis. It is a blogging community that will predominately target independant artists of various sorts. It will be interesting if there is cross traffic.

Does anyone know if it permits forums, invitations, delegated administration, custom branding, and significant content contribution from members?

I thought Comet was a better name

Also reminds me of Yahoo 360, which never seemed to take off. Anyone know why? It’s especially suprising when you consider how many people have Yahoo e-mail accounts.

Interface looks cool, but seems to be yet another My Space or AIM Pages story.

I’m hoping Six Apart starts rationalizing their platform portfolio. I’ve seen several people complain about the lack or inconsistency in features. As a corporate Moveable Type user i’ve been extremely dissappointed after using TypePad.

I can’t help feeling that Six Apart should work on fixing problems with LiveJournal before launching a new service which uses many of LJ’s features..!

is the UI in Flash or is that a workup of one of the popular HTML based WYSIWYG libraries?

Is it just me, or is this very similar to Livejournal? I mean the friend list etc. It’s as if they’re launching something that will compete with their own product.

Maybe instead of a new blogging platform every 18 months, SixApart could update MoveableType. They’ve completely squandered their lead and left MT users feeling abandoned - it’s pathetic how little it has changed in 3-4 years.

I wonder if they will have the same icon issues that LiveJournal is having right now. http://ljabuse.blogspot.com/

Perhaps Six Apart needs to work on correcting the issues they’re having with Livejournal, before throwing themselves into yet another service.

Yes, it does seem as if they’re making a service to compete with one they already own. I get the feeling that it’s easier to launch a new service than to keep LiveJournal users happy with LJ and make any money out of it. People weren’t happy when they introduced ads, there are louder and wider complaints about the volunteer abuse team system every day, and Six Apart buries their heads in the sand about it - then comes out with a new service that seems to have cloned many of LJ’s features. Maybe they were always less interested in LiveJournal itself than in borrowing bits of it?

Craig Danuloff - An MT update is in the works, see here:
http://www.sixapart.com/pronet.....mt_33.html

I have been considering whether to seriously consider MT 3.3 or go ahead and move all my weblogs over to WordPress. I think I just decided. One more product from Six Apart means they will have even less time/means/incentive to work on MT. When and if they move it to open source, I will give it a look again. Until then, I am jumping on the WP bandwagon.

Will this new platform be run in the background by another abuse team? Sounds like Live Journal and SixApart are setting themselves up for another backlash. With the current accusations of inconsistent policies, targeting user icons for suspension and general non-responsiveness to their paid customers it’s hard to believe they will treat these free users on a new platform any better.

I guess you get what you pay for.

Look here:
http://www.notcomet.com/

I say anything that helps newbies get involved with their first technology steps is good. I’ve been trying to encourage locals around Idaho Falls to try blogging, after finding very few local blogs that http://www.idahofallz.com a local community site could link to.

The problem with many newby blog platforms is the product doesn’t look good. If newbies don’t see great results, they’re not likely to return or even try in the first place. This looks like a great balance of good design and easy to use interface.

Course the devil’s in the details and we’ll see how it plays out.

Vox? Come on.

Comet was a far better name.

i perfer vox vodka much more
http://www.voxvodka.com

It’s always troublesome when you see companies rushing off to do new things without fixing old problems. Typepad *STILL* does not have pagination. This is supposed to be a leading blogging tech company but they can’t figure out how to add a “next” and “previous” button to the bottom of the screen?

For people trying to make money of ads, this is really bad as people will only read the first page of content and never go back to previous posts. Less Ads = Less money for bloggers and six apart.

I totally agree with the “get-your-other-acts-together” comments about Six Apart. Do they really need another distraction? They should have their hands full with existing MT, TypePad, and LV issues… there has been little progress made on these current offerings in ages. I’m sure there is pressure from their V.C.’s to capture new market segments and re-spin current products into “new” opportunities. Looks like Comet is that sort of endeavor, as redundant as it may appear… don’t expect anything to get better with Six Apart while they are busy trying to join the Friendster Myspace Tribe Spaces 360 bandwagon… I’m sure it’s all in an effort to create an acquisition target…

It’s good to see new additions to the world of blogging - as widely used as MySpace is, it is hardly an impressive feat of design and networking. The guys from SixApart will use their technological prowress and impressive design skills to create something truley useful, and good looking as well.

I find it laughable that a company that so blatantly ingores, mistreats, and even vilifies their own customers is getting ready to launch yet another bit of social software to capture the myspace market. If markets are conversations, then Six Apart isn’t even in the same room with its paying members at Live Journal, so I really don’t expect them to treat their non-paying future Vox members with any more respect. Get with the Cluetrain, Six Apart! It’s leaving the station without you…

ust a nitpick here, and in no way is this meant to be against 6A or Vox (both of which I hold high in my esteem)…

“advertising supported” does NOT mean free. Just because you/the user are not transferring monetary funds to the provider of goods/service, does not mean it is free.

“There is no such thing as a free lunch” and no amount of “Web 2.0″ marketing spin will change that.

In this model, you are paying with your time and labor. Advertising in this medium is supported by the content you will provide, at your expense (with rights dutifully clicked away with a hasty “I Agree”), to the system. Arguments regarding the balance and fairness of this transaction (”the service does what i want it to and I am happy to support it by allowing advertising matched against my content” is totally 100% acceptable to most people) are not moot and at very least should be brought to people’s attention, as I am now (and have been [1]), and not be glossed over with “it’s free”.

It’s *not* free. and when you provide labor without knowing exactly the terms of the transaction, somebody is getting screwed…

Again, not meant as an attack on 6A et al, but merely as an effort to give people the awareness needed to make an informed decision.

B.

[1] http://tinyurl.com/mgqex

Looks like Y! 360 which obviously didn’t take off.
I think this Asian blogging company is worth a look:
http://www.web20asia.com/14

VOX is positioned by 6A to be a PERSONAL blogging, archiving and social networking tool — not meant to compete with MT, TP or LJ….or MySpace. Think TP for personal uses or LJ for grown-ups who want something easy, private and nice looking. More like iWeb I imagine.

Agent.

Typepad has tags… They’re just called ‘categories’ and are sort of a relic from the Moveable Type days. They’re added as dc:subject in your RSS feed which means Technorati, Tailrank,, etc all pick them up.

There’s even myblog.com/tagname URLs setup so that you can just view posts for a specific tag.

Kevin

Personally, I can’t wait. I think SixApart is continuing to do what they do best: Encouraging blogging and user generated content. If you really stop and look at it they are taking the blogosphere (slowly become the spamosphere — IMHO) and splitting it in a way so they can get each age range and niche of netizen to start blogging or, if they’ve only been toying with the idea, to start blogging seriously. That, to me, is inspiring.

This is just another aspect of social communication. Not the whole ‘making friends with the someone that uses the same tags you do’ web 2.0 hype (read garbage), but down to earth user to user communication.

SixApart, good F’ing job. Ignore they nay-sayers, they are just to stuck-up to admit that blogging is for everyone.

“I’m hoping Six Apart starts rationalizing their platform portfolio. I’ve seen several people complain about the lack or inconsistency in features. As a corporate Moveable Type user i’ve been extremely dissappointed after using TypePad.”

I think Six Apart has an excellent and well thought-out product range, and this only add to it.

“Me too” is exactly right: “Think TP for personal uses or LJ for grown-ups who want something easy, private and nice looking”.

Let’s look at what Vox promises: blog/picture/video sharing, friend networks with privacy controls, and good looks with easy set-up. *If* they deliver, they’re onto a winner.

Jayson, I joined Typepad when it launched. Left them two months ago for one simple reason: stagnation. Their ability to deliver on new features leaves much to be desired. As a customer, my own perspective is that they have been in crisis mode the past year, trying to stabilize their hosting and capacity problems. As a consequence, they’ve let all their product offerings rot.

Why are people so concerned with new features?

Give me stability and usability any day.

Okay, so tell us. Let’s pretend that you’re a father (or mother) of three kids and want a space to post your family photos and share news with family scattered around the country. You want this to be private *and* simple to use so that even a blogging-newbie can use it (and keep using it).

With that criteria in mind, what services do people recommend in stead of Vox?

I’d like to put my original comment from 31 May into context, as well as apologize to TPTB at 6A for my very angry statement. It’s true that there was a situation on Live Journal that was intially handled *very* poorly, to put it mildly, by customer support at both Live Journal proper and Six Apart. There was a consensus among my peers (and fellow lactivists) that the default icon issue in regards to images of breastfeeding was being brushed under the table since “Nipplegate ‘06″ just happened to coincide with the launch of Vox. Since my original post, 6A has continued its dialogue with my group, which has been greatly appreciated and should be noted here.

Also, since that time I have personally used Vox and have found it to be a very intuitive blogging tool. I may not always agree with managerial decisions that affect the Live Journal community, and still feel that LJ Abuse needs to be vastly improved, but I won’t dispute that 6A makes a fantastic product and cares about the blogging community.

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