I think this is where Matt's perspective actually makes sense: "So, you guys built a $400M/yr business on our open source project, and when you had problems with the revision system, instead of contributing improvements, you just turned it off (and maybe converted it into an enterprise upsell some people are paying extra for!)?" Intel, Google, even Microsoft etc. develop improvements to Linux knowing full well that t…
WPEngine has tons of developers working on the WordPress ecosystem. This contribution argument doesn't work with me. They're contributing plenty of hours into WordPress plugins that their competition also can use.
I've been a long Wordpress user and proponent for a long time. Until a week ago I had never heard the name Mullenweg. Regardless of who's in the right or wrong here (I have my opinions), my perception of Wordpress flipped a switch overnight. It went from this quiet, reliable, refreshingly boring open source platform to yet another cult of personality tech fiefdom.
Above a certain size all communities sooner or later turn into cults, most of the time around one or a few persons. The ones that you don't perceive as such you just haven't looked into close enough. I wish it were different but so far I have yet to find a community that doesn't fit that description. Not just open source, not just software, any community.
Is there an ELI5 of the situation? I didn’t follow what happened. The court document has details but is the PoV of one of the parties, that makes it an unreliable summary for people like me who know nothing about the case
1. Rich dude wants other rich corp to give him money.
That's .org version of WP. WP.com - Automattic's bread & butter - was the big 2nd gen blogging platform. Yes, agreed WooComm is new. Nonetheless, social media'ing has replaced "I got a website" and "I got a blog."
Whatever else may be going on, your observations contain errors. Automattic has been on an insane revenue growth tear for years. WordPress install growth out in the wild has been flat for two years but not ticked down, when 43% of the Internet runs your software there are probably a lot of reasons it's hard to grow that number. In general, companies in this vertical are not really hurting. https://getlatka.com/compan…
"Insane" revenue growth in the past. The question is: What's going on in Matt's head? What does he see in the future?
Truth: Belief drives behavior.
To go nuclear as MM did, what is he believing? What is his future like?
But you picked a good word: insane.
So yeah, we're on the same page. The difference is direction. Past v future.
Definitely true and all of his communication - this thread, he’s given some interviews, etc. is very odd for a legal strategy.
Right, this all feels like (and I'm not trying to be rude with this, I'm speaking from experience) a mental break. Or he's got some sort of vendetta that he feels burning everything down is worth it over. Some of his comments from the other day on reddit have already been used in this very lawsuit, you'd think he would know to shut the hell up at this point if it's #2.
My take is this is 100% someone sticking to a naive worldview because they are smart and logical (and I don't doubt that they are). But the world doesn't work like that. And as much as I hate to admit it, these WPE people are playing the game and just baiting and provoking a response from him. They're like schoolyard bullies that poke and wave hands inches from your face, then cry foul to principal Government when you rightfully retaliate. As much as a smart and "fair" person would think this is a reasonable and logical response, the principal does not think so. They will look at the rules, say "a ha, you broke rule 3(a) and hit someone", and then send you to detention. No amount of if, buts, and logical "reasons" will matter at that point.
That's .org version of WP. WP.com - Automattic's bread & butter - was the big 2nd gen blogging platform. Yes, agreed WooComm is new. Nonetheless, social media'ing has replaced "I got a website" and "I got a blog."
> Automattic's bread & butter - was the big 2nd gen blogging platform Its not. Its used for everything from marketing websites to ecommerce. CNN, Reuters etc have their blogs run on it too.
That is the .org version. It should not be confused with .com version.
I've been a long Wordpress user and proponent for a long time. Until a week ago I had never heard the name Mullenweg. Regardless of who's in the right or wrong here (I have my opinions), my perception of Wordpress flipped a switch overnight. It went from this quiet, reliable, refreshingly boring open source platform to yet another cult of personality tech fiefdom.
I've barely used WordPress and am far from its proponent, but have heard of Matt Mullenweg many times.
If it's any three things, it's about money, money, and money. Zooming out a bit, Automattic acquired Tumblr and like all those before it seems to be choking on it. Competitors like Wix, Squarespace, WebFlow and Shopify are all nipping at WordPress' marketshare. I don't know what WordPress.com's stats look like, but blogging is out of sytle. New cool kids want the new black. That is to be social media influencers. Alo…
> People are fatigued I think this is significant. As I caught up on this conversation I've seen it interwoven with saltiness about "The Block Editor", which I understand is a new WYSIWYG editor replacing the classic editor under deprecation and which an increasing part of the community have been feeling alienated and forced by. It's been Matt's baby and WP hasn't been taking the community feedback to heart.
Yup. There is a lack of faith in the leadership, and it's spreading. Still plenty of Kool Aid drinking, but far less fear about speaking out
People took time off and spent money to go to WordCamp US. MM used his keynote to shit on a prominent entity in the ecosystem. And entity many people know, use and love. There was no need to go nuclear at that event, using that keynote.
Either someone said "No Matt, this isn't a good time" and he ignored them. Or no one close to him stood up to say anything. Both of these scenarios are ugly.