why manila?

[kthomas]

I've been laying awake at night and asking myself a question all week 
and I'm sorry I don't have time (since I'm leaving soon on my honeymoon 
where I won't be allowed to compute.) to dig into Blogger  and see what 
that's about so I figured I'd simply ask. I've used frontier/manila for 
years but I've never saw the need to give Blogger a test run. I've been 
gearing up to introduce my own manila hosting site (like Weblogger - my 
hero) with the intent of working with local designers and business 
people but it's a bitch to compete with a free product. Some might even 
see this as a Goliath/Microsoft/monopolistic tactic to squash the 
little guys out of the business. I think that's a little harsh 
considering manila seems to have a large loyal following. It's done all 
the time in retail by giants like Wal-Mart and it's called a 
loss-leader. Which have helped Wal-Mart earn their reputation as a 
destructor of local businesses.

Now that BloggerPro is free, (and has spell check) why would anyone 
want to pay for manila? What features make Manila stand above Blogger 
Pro and  why would anyone pay $99/yr or such for something they can get 
for free?

I understand the advantages of running your own server, radio 
connectivity but in a straight head-to-head Manila vs Blogger bakeoff, 
what's the diff?

(feel free to respond direct, i'll summarize and post)

/kt