IntenseDebate acquired by Automattic
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September 26th 2008 |
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The second commentosphere wars heats up with a plot twist. IntenseDebate. an alternative comment system for blogs that competes with Disqus, SezWho and JS-KIT got acquired by Automattic. the company behind Wordpress, Buddypress and Akismet. the argument behind the acquisition was pinpointed to the similar backend Wordpress and IntenseDebate got according to Matt Mullenweg.
While there is no doubt that it is true. i am also sure that the other main reason had to be the price. Intensedebate had no chance to catching up to Disqus and JS-KIT that are now in a competition war with one another. JS-KIT maintains the lead followed by a Disqus that counts with good founding and a good team along some pretty high profile blogs using their software. I.D being acquired by Automattic changes everything for Disqus and is a serious threat in the short term for them. but more to Disqus than to JS-KIT. this is because Disqus main focus up to now is Wordpress. JS-KIT supports pretty much everything and were more interested in Blogger.com and Blog Networks because that is where the big numbers are. this sudden move proves them right. IntenseDebate will find its way into Wordpress from version 2.7 and on. there is no news right now that indicates how the level of integration and support will vary or if it will vary from the features they got now. but it is some serious bad news for Disqus and SezWho in the Wordpress front because users will not have a reason to change the default comment system for other.
Wordpress 2.7 is the stepping stone that paves way to 3.0. a version that is said will be the slayer of Six Apart and will aim to dethrone Blogger.com. quite high goals but a radical change for the comment system is a great selling point to gain more adepts. this move will be also dangerous in the long run if it finally manages that Blogger.com and the other main Blog Platforms finally update their pretty outdates comment systems. that to this day remains to be Blogger.com weakest point.
This also leaves SezWho in a odd spot. i wish someone will recognize the opportunity and acquires them next. that could be anybody. from Google to Six Apart or maybe Disqus or JS-KIT.
Overall a great thing. Default Blog Comment Systems are seriously lacking and they have been that way for years. this move by Wordpress should shake things up for the greater good.
via TC
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