Guys, Matt Mullenweg is just too busy making an ass of him self, getting counter sued, and insulting the WP community to contribute to the project like he used to. I'm sure we all understand. And...
Automattic, Mullenweg’s company and historically the project’s largest contributor, has reduced its pledged hours from nearly 4,000 per week last September to just 16 as of today. The drop in Automattic’s involvement began in January—the same time the decline in new Gutenberg features began, as highlighted in the meeting notes.
Guys, Matt Mullenweg is just too busy making an ass of him self, getting counter sued, and insulting the WP community to contribute to the project like he used to. I'm sure we all understand. And if not, I'm sure he'll make fun of us for it.
Me hating Mullenweg aside, I don't think this is going to mean much for the end user. Maybe a little disappointing for developers though? Presumably we'll still see bug fixes and security patches via minor releases. Just no big features.
There’s so many other non-code/release related issues at Automattic (who own Wordpress) that I doubt this is going to push anyone away from the platform if they’re still using it.
There’s so many other non-code/release related issues at Automattic (who own Wordpress) that I doubt this is going to push anyone away from the platform if they’re still using it.
Lol. Like the roughly 40% of the internet "still" using it? For the love of all that is holy, once again, Automattic don't own WordPress. It's a GPL-licensed software project. Automattic has a...
Lol. Like the roughly 40% of the internet "still" using it?
For the love of all that is holy, once again, Automattic don't own WordPress. It's a GPL-licensed software project. Automattic has a copyright on the WP name and logo, they don't own the codebase. That's why the article was nearly entirely about contribution hours to the project.
Looked at that way, the "platform" is an infintely-headed hydra that people can just hop around trying out different variations of - like WIX or the dozen and a half other white-labeled variations of what's actually just WordPress under the hood.
If you're gonna take cheap shots at something, make sure your aim is true.
You're objectively right, but the issue here is way more nuanced than “WordPress is GPL-licensed software”. Automattic massively dropping its contributing hours for the open source project,...
You're objectively right, but the issue here is way more nuanced than “WordPress is GPL-licensed software”. Automattic massively dropping its contributing hours for the open source project, followed by a slowdown of major releases of the open source project that's spearheaded by the Automattic CEO (who, btw, owns wordpress.org infrastructure as well), hints at what's at risk.
WordPress is GPL-licensed indeed, but that doesn't make up for the whole ecosystem built around it in 20+ years, in large part by Matt's benevolence (and self-interest). As the people behind ClassicPress has found firsthand, it is no easy feat to replicate/replace all of that, and that's what I fear the most — that if Automattic falls, which I think is more likely than Matt passing the torch, the damage to open sourced WordPress will be felt by everyone.
Oh this is definitively a big deal. Apologies if it sounded like I was brushing this off. Maybe I was a bit myopic in just seeing it as kind of an opportunity for work in migrating, fixing, and...
Oh this is definitively a big deal. Apologies if it sounded like I was brushing this off. Maybe I was a bit myopic in just seeing it as kind of an opportunity for work in migrating, fixing, and updating sites and whatnot for WordPress contractors - like I used to do.
Last fall when the latest wave of Mullenweg drama and hate crested he called it “going the nuclear route”. These new announcements seem in line with that.
In my totally biased and only semi-informed and totally speculative opinion I have an image (accurate or not) of Matt as having been frustrated for many years now by the bigger industry players that have grown up and exist “because of” “his” project. Many of whom once fostered and collaborated for the growth and innovation of everyone in the WP business.
(Again, still total speculation on my part here) Now though, these companies have matured. Leadership has changed, growth has slowed, there’s a political tide strongly NOT in favor of an open web, and the competitors and tech stacks have improved and changed. WordPress doesn’t have the same goodwill it used to - only in small and relatively inconsequential part because of Matt’s actions though. Much much more goodwill has dissipated because it’s all very big money at the top now- with little to no interest in industry collaboration or innovation. All the young brilliant entrepreneurs have gotten very very rich and moved on or into the background.
I think it’s very likely the industry’s support for the project hasn’t seen commensurate financial growth compared to WP industry peers OR technical growth compared to other widely-adopted open source projects (the latter also being because of the complex relationships between the core project, the .org infrastructure, Matt’s companies, etc. etc.)
So, again, IMO, it’s a situation where the WP project is kind of looking like and being treated as an aging cow being milked by large companies run by boards and private equity until it eventually dies. Matt decided to roll the dice instead and see if the industry was willing to pony up so that the project can continue to innovate. Hence “go nuclear”.
Back to the point at hand- when you say it will be “felt by everyone”, I’d like to qualify who everyone is and suggest that some might benefit, some are probably going to freak out, some might get liquidated, and some are those former colleagues and peers of mine that were a part of the industry’s explosive growth over the last 20 years, “got theirs” and have moved on or are kicking back and kind of amusingly watching the later-stage grifters, optimizers, and money men freak the eff out because their strategy for continued revenue was just nuked by an actual real innovator.
So yeah, change is scary, and some might get hurt, but as someone who’s been fired and won and lost some, I’m of the opinion that usually it’s the wrong people that get hurt by industry changes, but this is not one of them.
So yeah, I’m in the “Go Matt, f*ck some shit up” camp. And also- if your business is powered by a WP site, don’t sweat it, let the big boys of that business do their drama and thrashing and you’ll know when it’s time to make some changes - and I bet they’ll even be good for you when all is said and done.
No offense, but my aim is true. @rodrigo basically said what I wanted to. It's important to remember that they may not legally own it wholesale, but they have de facto control over it. Whatever...
No offense, but my aim is true.
@rodrigo basically said what I wanted to. It's important to remember that they may not legally own it wholesale, but they have de facto control over it. Whatever they do, it will impact every user.
Looked at that way, the "platform" is an infintely-headed hydra that people can just hop around trying out different variations of - like WIX or the dozen and a half other white-labeled variations of what's actually just WordPress under the hood.
I think that's the wrong approach to take. It's not a hydra with 50 different heads. It may start out with different but interoperable versions of Wordpress made by different maintainers but eventually they will all splinter off into their own, disparate versions.
Instead of a hydra, look at it as Automattic trying to control the mouth of a river. They own so much of the infrastructure that Wordpress runs on that they can control the flow of water down the river. Just look at what they did with the plug-in debacle for proof.
Market dominance isn’t control. I see no reason some group of hosting providers couldn’t pretty handily make a plug-in repo alternative. I’m not saying it would be painless, and there probably...
Market dominance isn’t control. I see no reason some group of hosting providers couldn’t pretty handily make a plug-in repo alternative.
I’m not saying it would be painless, and there probably will be more failed forks along the way. That’s why I’d advise doing nothing and continuing with WP. Even if Automattic completely implodes, nearly every other platform has on-ramps for migration from WP.
It’s absolutely still the best, safest, most ubiquitous, and most open and migrate-able way to go.
Maybe there are big changes afoot, but I seriously wouldn’t worry too much about this top-tier billionaire power struggle unless you have stock in the WP hosting business.
I don't believe so. WordPress is open source, and there are ecosystems built around it to the point where many of those ecosystems have their own sub-ecosystems. If Automatic suddenly went away,...
I don't believe so.
WordPress is open source, and there are ecosystems built around it to the point where many of those ecosystems have their own sub-ecosystems.
If Automatic suddenly went away, at worst you would end up with a few forks that might drift apart in functionality and compatibility. There are too many people with too much invested in the WordPress ecosystem for it to die out anytime soon.
My .02 if you'd like - fully agree with ~daychilde on this. I'd go even a step further in that if I'm totally wrong about the tons of words I've written defending Matt M and there's some kind of...
My .02 if you'd like - fully agree with ~daychilde on this. I'd go even a step further in that if I'm totally wrong about the tons of words I've written defending Matt M and there's some kind of major upheaval that's begun... That's an opportunity for a boatload of work in the WP world.
Hang tight, continue any WP-based work you've got going on and await the next opportunity/move. IF jumping ship becomes the way to go, be the LAST one(s) doing it so that there's little to no risk of choosing wrongly and the migration path is all smoothed out... I can't imagine there won't be some killer new paths forward that will surface.
(aside: maybe I should look into what happened to that fully JS "fork" of WP called Ghost to see if anything ever came of that)
Just be sure you'll still own the IP (if you're a content producer) and there are solid, onramps and offramps for all the content types.
It'll be fine, just wait until all the dumb money/devs/grifters have fallen away and it's abundantly clear what should happen next.
Guys, Matt Mullenweg is just too busy making an ass of him self, getting counter sued, and insulting the WP community to contribute to the project like he used to. I'm sure we all understand. And if not, I'm sure he'll make fun of us for it.
Me hating Mullenweg aside, I don't think this is going to mean much for the end user. Maybe a little disappointing for developers though? Presumably we'll still see bug fixes and security patches via minor releases. Just no big features.
Should we who rely on WordPress be worried? 👀
There’s so many other non-code/release related issues at Automattic (who own Wordpress) that I doubt this is going to push anyone away from the platform if they’re still using it.
Lol. Like the roughly 40% of the internet "still" using it?
For the love of all that is holy, once again, Automattic don't own WordPress. It's a GPL-licensed software project. Automattic has a copyright on the WP name and logo, they don't own the codebase. That's why the article was nearly entirely about contribution hours to the project.
Looked at that way, the "platform" is an infintely-headed hydra that people can just hop around trying out different variations of - like WIX or the dozen and a half other white-labeled variations of what's actually just WordPress under the hood.
If you're gonna take cheap shots at something, make sure your aim is true.
You're objectively right, but the issue here is way more nuanced than “WordPress is GPL-licensed software”. Automattic massively dropping its contributing hours for the open source project, followed by a slowdown of major releases of the open source project that's spearheaded by the Automattic CEO (who, btw, owns
wordpress.orginfrastructure as well), hints at what's at risk.WordPress is GPL-licensed indeed, but that doesn't make up for the whole ecosystem built around it in 20+ years, in large part by Matt's benevolence (and self-interest). As the people behind ClassicPress has found firsthand, it is no easy feat to replicate/replace all of that, and that's what I fear the most — that if Automattic falls, which I think is more likely than Matt passing the torch, the damage to open sourced WordPress will be felt by everyone.
Oh this is definitively a big deal. Apologies if it sounded like I was brushing this off. Maybe I was a bit myopic in just seeing it as kind of an opportunity for work in migrating, fixing, and updating sites and whatnot for WordPress contractors - like I used to do.
Last fall when the latest wave of Mullenweg drama and hate crested he called it “going the nuclear route”. These new announcements seem in line with that.
In my totally biased and only semi-informed and totally speculative opinion I have an image (accurate or not) of Matt as having been frustrated for many years now by the bigger industry players that have grown up and exist “because of” “his” project. Many of whom once fostered and collaborated for the growth and innovation of everyone in the WP business.
(Again, still total speculation on my part here) Now though, these companies have matured. Leadership has changed, growth has slowed, there’s a political tide strongly NOT in favor of an open web, and the competitors and tech stacks have improved and changed. WordPress doesn’t have the same goodwill it used to - only in small and relatively inconsequential part because of Matt’s actions though. Much much more goodwill has dissipated because it’s all very big money at the top now- with little to no interest in industry collaboration or innovation. All the young brilliant entrepreneurs have gotten very very rich and moved on or into the background.
I think it’s very likely the industry’s support for the project hasn’t seen commensurate financial growth compared to WP industry peers OR technical growth compared to other widely-adopted open source projects (the latter also being because of the complex relationships between the core project, the .org infrastructure, Matt’s companies, etc. etc.)
So, again, IMO, it’s a situation where the WP project is kind of looking like and being treated as an aging cow being milked by large companies run by boards and private equity until it eventually dies. Matt decided to roll the dice instead and see if the industry was willing to pony up so that the project can continue to innovate. Hence “go nuclear”.
Back to the point at hand- when you say it will be “felt by everyone”, I’d like to qualify who everyone is and suggest that some might benefit, some are probably going to freak out, some might get liquidated, and some are those former colleagues and peers of mine that were a part of the industry’s explosive growth over the last 20 years, “got theirs” and have moved on or are kicking back and kind of amusingly watching the later-stage grifters, optimizers, and money men freak the eff out because their strategy for continued revenue was just nuked by an actual real innovator.
So yeah, change is scary, and some might get hurt, but as someone who’s been fired and won and lost some, I’m of the opinion that usually it’s the wrong people that get hurt by industry changes, but this is not one of them.
So yeah, I’m in the “Go Matt, f*ck some shit up” camp. And also- if your business is powered by a WP site, don’t sweat it, let the big boys of that business do their drama and thrashing and you’ll know when it’s time to make some changes - and I bet they’ll even be good for you when all is said and done.
No offense, but my aim is true.
@rodrigo basically said what I wanted to. It's important to remember that they may not legally own it wholesale, but they have de facto control over it. Whatever they do, it will impact every user.
I think that's the wrong approach to take. It's not a hydra with 50 different heads. It may start out with different but interoperable versions of Wordpress made by different maintainers but eventually they will all splinter off into their own, disparate versions.
Instead of a hydra, look at it as Automattic trying to control the mouth of a river. They own so much of the infrastructure that Wordpress runs on that they can control the flow of water down the river. Just look at what they did with the plug-in debacle for proof.
Market dominance isn’t control. I see no reason some group of hosting providers couldn’t pretty handily make a plug-in repo alternative.
I’m not saying it would be painless, and there probably will be more failed forks along the way. That’s why I’d advise doing nothing and continuing with WP. Even if Automattic completely implodes, nearly every other platform has on-ramps for migration from WP.
It’s absolutely still the best, safest, most ubiquitous, and most open and migrate-able way to go.
Maybe there are big changes afoot, but I seriously wouldn’t worry too much about this top-tier billionaire power struggle unless you have stock in the WP hosting business.
I don't believe so.
WordPress is open source, and there are ecosystems built around it to the point where many of those ecosystems have their own sub-ecosystems.
If Automatic suddenly went away, at worst you would end up with a few forks that might drift apart in functionality and compatibility. There are too many people with too much invested in the WordPress ecosystem for it to die out anytime soon.
My .02 if you'd like - fully agree with ~daychilde on this. I'd go even a step further in that if I'm totally wrong about the tons of words I've written defending Matt M and there's some kind of major upheaval that's begun... That's an opportunity for a boatload of work in the WP world.
Hang tight, continue any WP-based work you've got going on and await the next opportunity/move. IF jumping ship becomes the way to go, be the LAST one(s) doing it so that there's little to no risk of choosing wrongly and the migration path is all smoothed out... I can't imagine there won't be some killer new paths forward that will surface.
(aside: maybe I should look into what happened to that fully JS "fork" of WP called Ghost to see if anything ever came of that)
Just be sure you'll still own the IP (if you're a content producer) and there are solid, onramps and offramps for all the content types.
It'll be fine, just wait until all the dumb money/devs/grifters have fallen away and it's abundantly clear what should happen next.