You’ll see the results after voting- and, while I wasn’t too surprised to see WordPress (.org – referring to the script you self-host) leading the pack, I was a little surprised at how far behind all the others were. The poll is still ongoing, so there will no doubt be changes to the results, but as I write this:

WordPress.org is at 113.
Movable Type is at 9.
Blogger is at 40.
Wordpress.com is at 45.
TypePad is at 16.
LiveJournal is at 3.

As someone who’s used all of the above platforms at one time or another, I honestly expected more from the non-Wordpress platforms. Movable Type, which I only recently stopped using, is excellent and imho much better than Blogger.

Then again, I did stop using Movable Type recently. Why? Because WordPress is easier to use. Installation is a breeze. Widgets have made adding and removing things from your sidebar ridiculously simple. And if I ever run into any problems, there’s a very good chance that someone has experienced and solved the same thing. At the end of the day, it’s about what gives me more productivity as a blogger.

Download WordPress 2.3 now.

If you’re a beginning blogger trying to decide which platform choose- even if you’ve been blogging for some time- this is worth a look. Well-written and concise, the article is useful for those asking “which is right for me?” rather than “which is better?”:

The purpose is to contrast, rather than to predict a winner. But the firms are certainly competitors. For example, individuals looking for free hosted blogging may well consider both Vox and WordPress.com, as well as Blogger.

Read the entire post at Read/Write Web.