Duncan has been invited to Alpha test WordPress.com and has been documenting his set up and initial impressions of it here. His actual testblog is over here (not much to see yet).
I’ve been asked if I want an invitation and have replied in the affirmative and am awaiting the official invitation. Looking forward to it – although a little disappointed by the news from Duncan that there is no way to tweak templates. There is a chance this is not just a Alpha testing quirk either with some saying its just the way WordPress.com is. If this is the case you’ll not see many/any probloggers using the system as it’ll mean an inability to add ad code.
Anyway – I’m keen to test it for myself and run it through it’s paces.
Best of luck to you. I’m growing a bit frustrated with WordPress. I won’t go into all the details but it’s getting close to being replaced with another option!
Don’t worry, we’ll definitely address pro-bloggers. If you want to try out the alpha drop me an email or catch me on AIM.
@Chris: You should definitely seek support before moving away from WordPress. You won’t find a more helpful and supportive community anywhere. And they can often answer even the most obscure questions. No other platform I have ever seen has such a devoted following.
WordPress.com is a different beast altogether. Not many people are on it, so few know how it differs from mainline WordPress. I’m one of the few who is both on it, and know how it is different.
It’s true that there’s no (current) way to tweak the theme or to upload a custom theme. But work is underway to remove this limitation, and I’m sure I’ll have an update at my WordPress.com blog when it goes into testing.
alpha releases, that do work are not the standard. You can blog and you have some options to change. This is a alpha version of an service AND the alpha version of the new wordpress version 1.6.
Keep this in mind while testing (and inform us about everything!)
[…] I see, via Darren, that there’s an article about WordPress.com at The Blog Herald. Duncan’s early assessment is that it is looking fine. I agree with that. I also agree with his remark on customization, or the lack thereof. For a current WordPress user this is going to come as the biggest shock, but I have read somewhere that this might be standard: basically there is no ability, at least at this stage to tweak a template… I’m sure I read Matt Mullenweg saying that the whole customize your blog market is not what they are aiming for with this service, which is fair enough, although in later releases I’d be suggesting at least some basic customization options, because even a new blogger is eventually going to want to play with the look of their blog. […]
Actually, while you may find the “lack of tweakability” a problem, I find it liberating. Instead of obsessing on tweaking the theme, getting each pixel right, and test driving dozens of plugins, all the energy goes into the content.
WordPressMU sites like wordpress.com will be excellent for new bloggers who are into content and into easy. And then when they grow out of easy and want to get into the tweak, they can spend the money for server space and install the full version. I see it as WordPress 101 growing up into WordPress 401.