As Six Apart goes through its self-inflicted MT 3.0 crisis, they need to focus on the save. It’s easier to win back customers than find new ones and it’s easier to save than to win back. Here are some thoughts to consider:

We don’t like metered service. Whether it’s local phone service or online access, most people don’t like metered service and prefer to pay a premium for unlimited service. I’d think about selling unlimited author rights - a license for an individual to post as often as they want and as many places as they want. This might lead to a 3 way personal license model built around software instances, authors with unlimited posting privilege, and part time authors drawing from a collective post pool.

Look back before looking forward. I think a lot of outrage comes from After all I did for you, this is what I get? If you want to win back the self-proclaimed developers and evangelists, then you need to reward their past performance. The developer’s contest is about the future. How about a license discount for everyone who moves/verifies their existing plug in on MT 3.0? And what about referral discounts for the evangelists out there?

Of course, you can also decide that the people you’re losing aren’t worth having as customers. The clock is ticking.