Open Data

Cory writes about the rumors of the new Intel Macs using Intel's Trusted Computing hardware:

It means that the price of being a Mac user will be eternal vigilance: you'll need to know that your apps not only write to exportable formats, but that they also allow those exported files to be read by competing apps.

Exactly. In some sense, open data is more important than open source. Your data is more valuable than the tools you use--you can always find new tools, but if you lose access to your data, no tool in the world will give you access to it.

It's similar to what we've always called our Philosophy of Yes at Six Apart:

The "export" button in Six Apart's products keeps us on our toes. Knowing that you can leave at any time is our motivator to keep on developing stable, intuitive and flexible applications. We want you to stay because you like the product, not because you can't get out.

For me, it's always been easier to trust a tool that allows me to get my data out if I watch to switch tools.

And so, since day one, Movable Type and TypePad have had the ability to Export your posts--not because we wanted people to leave, but because we wanted people to stay.