Opinion I’m so sick of this. I have been a contented WordPress consumer because it rolled out the door in 2003, and I kissed Vignette (since acquired by OpenText) goodbye. WordPress was simply a lot simpler to make use of than the options; it was open supply; and it was free. It was such a win!
It’s and stays such a no brainer that in the present day, WordPress powers practically half of the web’s web sites. However, then, simply this yr, issues went dangerous. Actually, actually dangerous.
WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, who based and is the CEO of Automattic, the corporate behind WordPress, determined that WordPress internet hosting energy WP Engine was a “most cancers to WordPress.”
Excuse me?
There are oodles of hosting corporations that supply WordPress. There may be additionally a small horde of builders and their companies that make their dwelling from providing pre-designed templates that management a website’s look and plugins, add-ons that reach WordPress websites’ performance while not having to be a PHP programming professional. WordPress, like Linux, MySQL, and Apache, has created a complete ecosystem of open supply merchandise.
WP Engine is only one of many corporations that has profited from WordPress. It is arguably essentially the most profitable third-party WordPress firm, with an estimated worth of someplace between $500 million and $1 billion. Automattic, which is price north of $7.5 billion, although, is the undisputed heavyweight champ of WordPress.
So, what has WP Engine carried out that is upset Mullenweg? Truthfully, I do not know.
Oh, I do know what he says. For those who’ve been being attentive to WordPress information, you understand it too. However, to refresh your reminiscence, all of it started in September 2024 when Mullenweg publicly criticized WP Engine in his WordCamp keynote deal with, accusing the corporate of exploiting the WordPress title and ecosystem.
Actually? In my thoughts, WordPress is the software program WP Engine makes use of, and everybody is aware of WP Specific shouldn’t be WordPress. It is like somebody telling me that Purple Hat Linux is Linux. No, no, it is not. It is a Linux distro. WP Engine is among the a whole bunch of hosting corporations that supply WordPress internet hosting. I do know some folks make that type of dumb mistake, however it’s nonetheless only a dumb mistake. WP Engine shouldn’t be – sorry, Mullenweg – making an attempt to drag the wool over prospects’ eyes.
Oh, and Mullenweg additionally accused certainly one of WP Engines’ backers, Silver Lake, a personal fairness agency, of hollowing out the WordPress open supply group as a result of they’re hell-bent on creating wealth. Oh, and Automattic traders, Avant World and BlackRock, aren’t there for the cash? Please!
The Automattic CEO additionally argues that WP Engine’s determination to disable WordPress revisions by default displays how WP Engine is not any buddy to its prospects. “They’re strip-mining the WordPress ecosystem, giving our customers a crappier expertise to allow them to earn more money.” Actually? You’ll be able to at all times get it enabled, or if it bugs you that a lot, you possibly can transfer to a different WordPress internet hosting firm that does have it on by default.
It isn’t a giant deal. Recover from it already.
However, in fact, it did grow to be a giant deal. The scenario took a dramatic activate September 25 when Mullenweg blocked WP Engine’s entry to WordPress.org assets, successfully crippling performance for thousands and thousands of internet sites hosted by WP Engine. That went over nicely.
Because the dispute went on, it inevitably went to the attorneys. We’re now seeing dueling lawsuits and cease-and-desist orders. That is one more wake-up name for anybody who acquired into tech considering they’d by no means ever wanted to fret in regards to the legislation.
The battle took one other contentious flip when Mullenweg introduced that WordPress could be “forking” WP Engine’s fashionable Superior Customized Fields (ACF) plugin, renaming it Safe Customized Fields. This transfer was unprecedented in WordPress’s 21-year historical past, with no plugin ever being forcibly taken from its creator with out consent.
Mullenweg justified the motion by citing safety considerations and the necessity to take away industrial upsells. I am undecided anybody besides he and his family and friends purchase that.
The dispute has had far-reaching penalties inside the WordPress ecosystem. At Automattic, 159 staff (8.4 % of the workforce) accepted Mullenweg’s provide to depart with a severance bundle, expressing their disagreement together with his dealing with of the scenario.
The battle is now spilling into group occasions, with WP Engine’s sponsorship of WordCamp Sydney revoked. Moreover, WordPress.org applied a controversial login checkbox requiring customers to substantiate they weren’t affiliated with WP Engine, thus additional isolating the internet hosting firm from the group.
To this point, Automattic is dropping the early authorized rounds. I can not say this surprises me. Its arguments are, on this columnist’s opinion, weak. WP Engine secured a preliminary injunction in opposition to Automattic in December 2024. That is the most important authorized growth to this point. A California District Courtroom choose ordered Automattic to stop blocking WP Engine’s entry to WordPress.org assets and cease interfering with its plugins.
In fact, it is not over but — removed from it. I see this battle occurring nicely into 2025 and probably for years after that. Heck, the 20-plus-year-old SCO/IBM Linux lawsuit continues to be staggering on like a zombie. No, actually, it’s, and this is the courtroom order to show it.
Like that notorious lawsuit, the WordPress vs WP Engine battle has raised severe questions in regards to the nature of open supply software program and the facility dynamics inside such ecosystems. It has uncovered the strain between the beliefs of open supply collaboration and the realities of economic pursuits constructed upon these foundations. It has additionally highlighted the potential vulnerabilities of counting on centralized assets like WordPress.org, which might grow to be chokepoints.
Mullenweg is demanding WP Engine give 8 % of its gross income in trade for utilizing the WordPress trademark. What would then hold Automattic from demanding the identical of anybody providing WordPress providers? Not a darn factor.
Goodness is aware of we have seen many open supply companies flip their again on open supply licenses to attempt to make more cash lately. Mullenweg is not doing that, however Automattic is making an attempt to make use of its emblems in an identical method.
In a leaked inside Automattic authorized memo, the corporate’s then-chief authorized officer, Paul Sieminski, argues that it’s the solely firm allowed to make use of WordPress in its title and branding. For these of a authorized bent, sure, the WordPress trademark really belongs to the non-profit WordPress Basis. Nonetheless, Sieminski argues that since Automattic holds WordPress’s unique industrial license, the corporate can threaten corporations that use the WordPress trademark with stop and desist or Uniform Area-Title Dispute-Decision Coverage (UDNDRP) letters if they do not pay up. And, if that does not work, Automattic would sic “good and never good attorneys and trademark enforcers” on the offending corporations.
Why is Mullenweg actually doing this? I do not purchase his excuses. Maybe, when push involves shove, it is all in regards to the cash. Mullenweg is a millionaire, however it seems he is not a billionaire. Might it’s that petty? Might it’s that silly?
In fact, that is open supply. If Mullenweg retains on his course, folks may at all times fork this system. I do know folks like me who’ve used WordPress for many years and are actually questioning if they need to look elsewhere. Certainly, WordPress has already been forked earlier than. Oddly, Mullenweg wrote a weblog proclaiming “Forking is Lovely” in October, detailing earlier and present WordPress forks. In fact, he additionally claims that WP Engine is a WordPress fork that he would not contact with a ten-foot pole.”
He might have trigger to remorse that assertion earlier than the WordPress vs. WP Engine dispute is over. WordPress would not be the primary, or final, open-source program whose management drove it into the rocks whereas a fork sailed on to a protected harbor. ®
