Welcome to The Real Blogger Status - Beta. Please note the warnings (as of 6/13: 0 active), and the alerts (as of 1/10/2007: 5 active).

Please be aware of the naming variances in this blog. You will find various references to "Classic" / "Old Template 2006" Blogger, and to "Beta" / "New Template 2006" Blogger.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Migration To Blogger Beta - Evaluation - 3

In this series about the migration to the Blogger Beta product, I've described (briefly) the technique of a migration project, the overall status of the migration, and where (I suspect) that Blogger thinks this project is right now.

As the Google Blogger Help community reacts to last weeks announcement (carefully hidden in the forums)

We're looking forward to migrating all users to beta in the next few months, so, as there's limited time left with regular Blogger


I see an interesting mixture of reactions.
I just migrated my blog, and I'm having no problems. You should migrate now, and enjoy yourself.

and
Don't migrate now, wait until all of the bugs are worked out.


My own personal opinion varies from day to day, according to what problems we are seeing (Classic or Beta), and / or what responses we are getting (or not getting) from Blogger Support. Several times in the past week, I have experienced moments of euphoria (from various causes), where I have contemplated pulling the pin, and migrating PChuck's Kitchen.

Being able to use MultiStyle Topics, to cross reference my recipes, would rock. PChuck's Kitchen is not large, and could be rebuilt if necessary, so it's a perfect candidate (to me) for migration.

Unfortunately, none of this matters, as Blogger says to me, and many other folks
We're not ready to allow you to migrate just yet. But setup a new Beta blog - and try out the neat features!
So, of the folks using Beta blogs right now, how many are using new blogs vs how many have actually been migrated? My guess - and I am being liberal - is maybe 1 Beta blog out of 3 was migrated - 2 out of 3 are new Beta blogs.

There are a lot of Classic blogs waiting to be migrated. Almost certainly, the blogs that haven't been migrated are the ones with interesting features. And that means that those features, and other features used by more complex blogs that can't be migrated, haven't been tested under Beta just yet.

Features that haven't been (won't be) tested under Beta are problems waiting to happen. Blogger is simply saying
Migrate anyway, and we'll deal with the problems after you migrate.

And after they migrate, they'll be saying
We can't respond to your problem personally - we're too busy dealing with all of the problems. Please describe your problem in Google Blogger Help - Troubleshooting, and wait for answers from your peers.


If there are features in Beta that you can't, or don't want to, wait for, then it's in your own best interest to migrate. Those of us who don't want to migrate our blogs immediately will benefit from waiting, and watching the problems that occur without us, occur without us. If you migrate, and you experience problems, then I can learn from your experience, as I watch you struggle.

Those of us that do eventually migrate will benefit from many having migrated before us, and already dealt with the problems. But the choice to migrate is not given freely to everybody. You can only migrate when you're allowed.

We're not ready to allow you to migrate just yet.


So here, again, is the suspicion that Blogger is ignoring the idea that many blogs are owned and cared for by real people.
  • People who have hopes and dreams.
  • People that won't enjoy migrating with the fear of having problems, and knowing that once you go forward, there's no coming back.
  • People who know that possibly they will wait, but one day, possibly in the process of making an urgent post (new or updated), they will get the notice
    You must migrate now.

    Where now might be any future time convenient to Blogger Support, though not to the blog owner.
  • People who know that one day, possibly in the process of making an urgent post (new or updated), they will get the notice
    You must migrate now.
    even though now, they see
    We're not ready to allow you to migrate just yet.


And that's the real downside of not migrating immediately. You have no idea when that shoe will drop. And there is another problem with The Silence.

(Edit 10/19): One week later, we see the third statement by Blogger Employee, and this story continues.

3 comments:

SafeTinspector said...

I've been worried about losing content in the migration, and my custom javascript article navigators might need some work.

But how and when can I do a test migrate, or replicate, or whatever?

Man, I'm worried. I wish I could get the FTP publish thing to work so I could make a backup copy of my blog...

Barbee' said...

So, Chuck, say you were 'invited' to migrate: Do you think you could migrate only PChuck's Kitchen at that time? This is something I've tried and tried to find out. I HAVE been invited to migrate, but I'm holding back because I don't know. I have one or two ready, but I don't want to have to migrate all ten of them at once at this time. Do you have any information along that subject?

Chuck said...

From what I can tell, you migrate accounts not blogs.

One of my projects this week is to setup a migration test account, and transfer PChucks Kitchen to that account. Then I'll see where I go after that.

So watch this space.