I remember using Movable Type for the first time over three and half to four years ago and feeling like I had just cut through some kind of fog when I realized that there was a better way to build web sites and manage my presence online. Movable Type left such an impression on me that when it came time for me to look for a new job all I could think about was working for the company whose product I respected and enjoyed using so much.

Three years later I am the Product Manager for the very product that inspired me, and so many other Six Apart employees to work here.

But allow me for a moment to speak more personally about these past three years. I wasn't always the Product Manager for Movable Type. I came on board as the PM for TypePad not too long after the now infamous release of Movable Type 3.0 for which Six Apart has been often villainized. From that moment on I watched from the sidelines as Movable Type slowly lost marketshare to Wordpress, drupal and other alternatives.

However I personally do not believe that its licensing change is what has contributed most significantly to its perceived decline among bloggers. It is something far worse in my opinion: stagnation. Simply put, for five years the Movable Type product grew to become simply put the most powerful and extensible blogging product around. But in those five years it never really evolved.

The irony of course in all this, and this is something that few people outside the company know or can appreciate, is that despite how it may be perceived by the vocal minority, Movable Type has been and continues to be an insanely successful product. However, when you care as much as I do about Movable Type, its financial success does not keep the hearing of someone leaving Movable Type to use a competitor's product from hurting. In fact, it is very difficult for me not to take it personally in some way.

So when Chris Alden joined Six Apart and approached me about being the Product Manager that would help usher in a new era for Movable Type how could I possibly say no?

Ever since I have been playing my part to return Movable Type to its undisputed leadership position as the most powerful, most extensible, best designed, personal and professional blogging platform around. All of this is culminating in the release of Movable Type 4.0, which is the largest release in Movable Type's history, and perhaps even in Six Apart's.

Which brings me full circle back to why I am not blogging here at majordojo as much as I used to. Instead, you can find me at www.movabletype.org where I am working with the MT community on the Movable Type 4 beta, documentation, the new MT open source project (Woot!), and so, so, so much more.

This is just such an incredibly exciting time for Movable Type and I am honored to be a part of it. Don't believe me? Seeing is believing you know...