The majority of differences between 2.0 and previous 1.5.x versions are in the user interface (admin area) and casual users won’t see them. There is the new “Roles and Capabilities” determination for blog subscribers/authors. A good run-down of all the changes, with an explanation, comes from Asymptomatic. Also, with the upgrade of the platform, WordPress has redesigned their main site and provided an improved, and organized, documentation section. That is especially good to see.

Upgrading to WordPress 2.0 on this heavily modified blog took only 45 minutes to get it back up and working. Not bad when you consider that counts backing up the database, deactivating over 20 plugins, deletion of all files, FTP of all new files, unrelated phone call interruptions, and the final re-activation of select plugins to get the blog running. There was a bit more to it, but that covers the major tasks.

Comments and posting are working. The new theme, Exquisite, is functioning. I will enable it later as the sidebar still needs some work.

As for WordPress 2.0, I admit that there are some quirks I’m discovering and I’ll probably spend a few hours fixing and tweaking things. However, that is because this blog had been modified a great deal with numerous plugins/hacks over the past several months. If this were a new installation, I am certain that the famous WordPress 5-minute (or less) install is still a safe and honest promise from the developers.

This version looks just like WordPress Multiuser in the administration area. It is very clean, easy to use and navigate, and quite powerful. All of that from free software. Can’t beat it.

So, for what it is worth, I now declare WordPress the King/Queen of the personal/business blogging platforms – opensource or commercial. Alright, to be fair – I’ll have to caveat that with my trusty-dusty “of the platforms I have tried” qualifier. As a yardstick on what I have tried, I have downloaded and installed (or tried to install) almost all of the blogs, portals, wikis (and several other CMS platforms) at Opensourcecms.com. I’ve even installed Movable Type and have/had Typepad, Blogger, LiveJournal accounts. For me, WordPress is the clear winner. It is not even close.

In fact, the new version of WordPress – out of the box – allows for the easy importing of posts from a Movable Type blog. “The importer is smart enough not to import duplicates, so you can run this multiple times without worry if—for whatever reason—it doesn’t finish. If you get an out of memory error try splitting up the import file into pieces.”

But, the new platform doesn’t stop there. You may also import from these accounts and processes, too. “Blogger – Import posts and comments from a Blogger account; Textpattern – Import posts from a Textpattern Blog; and, RSS – Import posts from an RSS feed”

What’s the point here? The level of user knowledge required to launch a WordPress blog is much lower than a Movable Type blog, for instance. Yet, you get the same power of Movable Type. I think you actually get more, but that is still being debated. Either way, more people can use the WordPress platform – easier and faster, out of the box – than any other platform you might choose to host yourself, or acquire hosting to launch.
The WordPress process of installation is easier and cleaner. The support community is solid and quite helpful. OK, the Multiuser version still needs some work, which I am sure will be done, but multiple blogs can be done in other ways using WordPress.

I think it is quite safe to say that WordPress has now completely eclipsed other platforms. I know, it is just my lil’ opinion, but I’ve said it and I’m not ashamed. I note, with some humor, that the announcement has now been made public that Yahoo! now offers one-click (well, a few to be fair) launching of a WordPress blog. In fact, you may now “Setup one blog or two dozen in seconds.” Another platform’s announcement of a similar deal made it sound like it was a coup, of sorts. Well, with this announcement, we see that WordPress receives the same appreciation and respect as the other platform.

Another UPDATE: The links have been fixed. (Read the post below.) Seems someone did the wise thing and put redirects in their .htaccess for those URLs to the WordPress.com mainpage. Great going WP! Only took a half of a day. Perhaps someone actually reads this blog after all.

Now, on to my hopes for WordPress.com….

Another learning experience. I fear WordPress has erred in some of their tactics in this startup of WordPress.com.

When you are doing a launch of a new initiative, you must think through all the possibilities. I fear (in fact, am about to show you evidence) that WordPress did not think this thing through. They need representation. I imagine many are now in a scrammble to give it to them.

This isn’t intended to be harsh criticism. Just helpful thoughts for how to catch up, now that the errors are painfully evident. Remember. I am a fan. I want WordPress to succeed.

WordPress wants to be a leader. They want this latest initiative to give them greater buzz and strengthen their brand in the online world – particularly for business. So, they should have crossed the T’s and dotted the I’s. They haven’t. It will cause angst among people wishing to find out about this new offering.

A search of Yahoo, Google and other search engines for links will give you many links to 404 errors. Not blank 404, but areas of the existing site which could have been filled in with pertinent information to help drive their meme.

As an example, I’m going to take the first page of Yahoo! results for a WordPress.com search.

Link #1: That takes you to their offer. A simple page which provides an opportunity to sign up and wait for an invite.

Link #2: A 404. It is an existing page and could be filled in quickly with even the most basic of info. This will diminish the frustration of visitors.

Link #3: http://wiki.wordpress.com/ … a subdomain that offers this, “Sorry, the blog you are looking for is not available”. Why not redirect to the Codex (Wiki)? Simple to do.

Link #4: The real codex link. http://codex.wordpress.org

Link #5: See #3. Another subdomain – http://validercode.wordpress.com/ – empty

Link #6: Their pingback page – “XML-RPC server accepts POST requests only.”

Link #7: Another empty page that could be filled with simple info.

Link #8: Their “About” page. And, it is empty. Very sad.

Link #9: Empty Archive page. And, this is where we get the clue that WordPress.com may well be WordPress Multiuser (WPMU). “WordPress MU” is on the page.

Link #10: Another empty existing page which could be filled in.

Think about this. We know that most surfers only choose the first 10 links they get in their search. We know what the links are that they will get before the launch. In the examples above, we only see two good links and only one of them is pertinent to WordPress.com’s launch. These are wasted opportunities. It makes me sad.

The launch was done very quiet, so there was no opportunity for advocates like me (and many others) to jump in with suggestions and help. I wish WordPress would have learned from their “Asbestos Juice (Adsense)” episode and sought out competent advice prior to the launch.

I have written about these brilliant young minds, like Mullenweg, before. I appreciate and respect what they have accomplished. I wish they’d recognize that they need help now.

My point? If you are going to play with big business. Act like them. Think these things through. Do the homework on your launch and all the possibilities that may arise when you launch. The announcement at BBS05 was bound to create great interest. It has. Each hour that passes, the meme grows. Each hour offers more opportunities for heightened interest – or, in this case – heightened frustration.

Come on WP – get with it! I want you to succeed! Heck, I will even help.

This is the unfortunate aspect of a group of programmers/developers trying to do things with a volunteer community. Reach out to your advocates. Let them help you. Avoid these bumps in the road.

Well, there is news! Matthew Mullenweg and all the WordPress developers have something new for you – hosted blogging at WordPress.com.

I believe that WordPress.org is now trying to pump up interest in WordPress MultiUser. A great tool for creating a blogging community. I’m betting that is what they are using to provide this new offer at WordPress.com.

Update: It may also be that WordPress is offering something more akin to what many hosting providers are offering: a .gzipped version of WordPress that may be launched immediately by a simple script. Darn. I want to find out more. WordPress needs to win in this race for the business world’s fav blogging platform. Read Bucks for blogs: Businesses, bloggers look to score deals, forge links at S. F. summit (Mercury News)

Another Update: I now find this rather old comment thread at WordPress Suport Forums and it led me to this recent post in WordPress.com (Wednesday, July 20th, 2005) that makes me feel WordPress.com is using MultiUser. We’ll see.

I’m excited for WordPress. This could be the boost they need to start gaining wider MSM / Trade Press coverage.

WordPress.com is an easy and powerful way to start blogging.
Why Blog?

* Connect with an audience of dozens to millions.
* Stop sending mass emails to everyone.
* Archive your thoughts.
* Why the heck not? (WordPress.com)

and, from Qumana we find two features:

* WYSIWYG editor
* Side-panel features like categories can be moved around to better suit the order you prefer.

The WYSIWYG has already been available as a plugin. The drag-n-drop tools is in the 1.6-ALPHA-2 version and is used in the MultiUser version.

Thanks to PR meets the WWW – Constantin Basturea, Nevon – Neville Hobson, and DL Byron for the tip off to this new offering.

We are using MultiUser for PRblogs.org to give free blogs to PR practitioners, educators and students. That project is in conjunction with James Farmer of BlogSavvy. Many thanks to James. He is offering new blogs to educators at edublogs.org, too. James thinks way ahead of the curve.

Best wishes to WordPress with their new offering. After people start to see this blogging platform (on an even larger scale – building communities) I believe the others may have some very worried expressions on their faces. It is that good.

Related links:
Matt on his WordPress presentation at the BBS05
Donncha O’Caoimh’s blog
Reference to James Farmer’s work in the Multiuser blog