WordPress is essentially an Internet infrastructure. It's widely used, generally stable, and as a result doesn't tend to generate many eye-catching headlines.
But over the past week, the WordPress community has been embroiled in a battle over the platform's ethos. Last week, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg slammed WP Engine, a major WordPress hosting provider, calling the company a “cancer” on the community. The statement has opened a public debate about how for-profit companies can and cannot use open source software, and whether they are required to contribute anything to the projects they use in return.
The conflict has escalated in the days since with a flood of legal threats and has left swaths of website operators caught in the crossfire of a conflict beyond their control. WP Engine customers were unable to access WordPress.org servers, preventing them from easily updating or installing plugins and themes. And although they have been granted a temporary respiteWP Engine now faces a deadline to resolve the conflict or break down its customers' access again.
WP Engine is a third-party hosting company that uses the free open source WordPress software to create and sell its own pre-packaged WordPress hosting service. Founded in 2010, WP Engine has grown to become a rival to WordPress.com, with more than 200,000 websites using the service to boost your online presence.
“Silver Lake doesn't give a damn about its open source ideals, it just wants return on capital.”
Mullenweg leads two different WordPress. There's WordPress.org, the open source project that develops the backbone of the WordPress publishing platform, and then there's WordPress.com, a company that sells a hosted version of the open source WordPress software, just like WP Engine. Mullenweg runs Automattic, owner of WordPress.com. The data suggests That about 43 percent of all websites use WordPress, but it's unclear how many are hosted on WordPress.com or elsewhere.
In addition to selling plans on WordPress.com, Automattic contributes a large development effort to the open source project, which in turn relies on donations and contributions from the community to operate. According to Mullenweg, the team contributes 3,988 hours per week. The company may not have to pay to use WordPress, but it is certainly worth developing and improving.
WP Engine works a little differently. he says it focuses on investing in the community through sponsorships and encouraging adoption of the platform. The hosting platform was acquired by the private equity firm Silver Lake in 2018and Mullenweg sees it as a business that benefits from open source code without giving anything in return.
That frustration came to a head last week when Mullenweg took the stage at WordCamp, a WordPress conference sponsored by WP Engine, and took aim directly at WP Engine. “The company is controlled by Silver Lake, a private equity firm with $102 million in assets under management.” mullenweg said. “Silver Lake doesn't give a damn about its open source ideals; he just wants return on capital. So at this point I ask everyone in the WordPress community to vote with your wallet. Who are you going to give your money to: someone who is going to nourish the ecosystem or someone who is going to extract all its value until it withers?
Mullenweg followed this statement with a Blog post from September 21where he criticized WP Engine for contributing alone 40 hours per week to the WordPress.org open source project. “WP Engine is setting a poor standard that others may look at and think it's okay to replicate. We must set a higher standard to ensure WordPress is here for the next 100 years,” Mullenweg wrote in the blog. He further attacked WP Engine, saying that it is “exploiting the WordPress ecosystem” and giving users a “poorer experience so they can make more money.”
Mullenweg not only defends the spirit of open source, but also defends its competing WordPress provider.
Mullenweg doesn't seem to be wrong about WP Engine's contributions. But ultimately WP Engine complies with the rules of the WordPress open source license: it is generally free to use and WP Engine is not. have to give back to the WordPress community just because you are leveraging open source code. Of course, it would be nice if WP Engine did this, but nothing requires it to do so.
To further complicate the situation: Mullenweg not only defends the spirit of open source, but also defends its competing WordPress provider. On his blog, he claims that WP Engine is “profiting from the confusion” caused by the company's branding. Mullenweg alleges that WP Engine promises to offer customers WordPress, but that the company actually offers a distilled version of the service. It goes on to say that WP Engine will need a commercial license for “unauthorized” use of the WordPress brand, which is controlled by the WordPress Foundation, and then sent a cease and desist letter in an attempt to make the company pay.
WP Engine does not remain silent. shipment x.com/wpengine/status/1838350670564377051″>a cease and desist letter That tells a very different story from what's been happening behind the scenes. In its letter, WP Engine claims that Automattic demanded a “very large sum of money” days before Mullenweg's keynote speech at the WordCamp convention on September 20, and if the company did not receive it, Mullenweg allegedly threatened to carry out a “scorched earth nuclear approach.” ”Towards WP Engine.
WP Engine alleges that Mullenweg harassed the company via text messages and calls, with one screenshot reading: “If I'm going to explain to the WP community why we're banning WPE, I need to do it in my talk tomorrow. “The text messages, which Mullenweg confirmed having sent an interview with Twitch streamer ThePrimeagenLet's say you prepared several presentation slides for your WordCamp talk, with the working title “How Private Equity Can Hollow Out and Destroy Open Source Communities, A 4-Part Story.”
After WP Engine refused to pay WordPress, the company alleges that Mullenweg followed through on his threats. “Sir. Mullenweg's covert demand that WP Engine hand over tens of millions to his for-profit company Automattic, while publicly posing as an altruistic protector of the WordPress community, is shameful,” WP Engine's letter states. “WP Engine will not agree to these unconscionable demands that not only harm WP Engine and its employees, but also threaten the entire WordPress community.”
WordPress.org has now made it clear that it is going after WP Engine not only for its failure to compensate the WordPress project but also for its alleged misuse of the WordPress brand. Mullenweg now says Automattic has given WP Engine two ways to “pay its fair share”: either by paying a licensing fee or by making contributions to the WordPress open source project. “This is not a money grab: it's an expectation that any company that makes hundreds of millions of dollars from an open source project should give something back, and if they don't, then they can't use their trademarks,” Mullenweg. saying.
The WordPress Foundation, the charity that supports the WordPress open source project, is run by Mullenweg and other lesser-known board members that do not appear on their website. It appears that the WordPress Foundation has made some adjustments to its branding guidelines in recent days. Starting September 19, The policy said you are “free” to use the WP abbreviation in “any way you deem appropriate.” But now WordPress has removed that language, replacing it with a line that says not to use WP “in a way that confuses people. For example, many people think of WP Engine as 'WordPress Engine.'” The updated policy also explicitly states: “If you wish to use the WordPress trademark commercially, please contact Automattic, they have the exclusive license.”
WordPress.org banned WP engine prevent free access to its servers due to its “legal claims and litigation,” a move that has made it difficult for customers to use WP Engine. However, Mullenweg decided to temporarily lift the blockade just two days later. It has given WP Engine until October 1 to create its own mirror or resolve the conflict. “Why should WordPress.org provide these services to WP Engine for free, given their attacks on us?” Mullenweg wrote. x.com/wpengine/status/1839246341660119287″>WP engine says it only sent a cease and desist order to WordPress and has not yet filed a lawsuit.
When asked about the WP Engine ban, Automattic spokesperson Megan Fox said in a statement to The edge that “trademark violations have caused the company to be blocked from some WordPress resources.” Targeted WP Engine The edge to your x.com/wpengine?s=21&t=hvhl1EW-0433qxt-1_t6Dw”>statements about when contacted for comment.
The fight has generated a mix of reactions. On the one hand, people think x.com/rajivkhaneja/status/1837692014848262297″>WP Engine is wrongand some say that the company x.com/SolespireMarcus/status/1839692368422871446″>ought contribute more to the open source project and that its x.com/AJChadha/status/1839170887762796662″>the use of “WP” is misleading. On the other hand, some members of the WordPress community are calling Mullenweg resign and accuse him x.com/jbrett/status/1839670972195999751″>abusing his power about WordPress.org and WordPress.com. Others believe the situation could result in x.com/seldo/status/1839133056256586211″>a WordPress fork and raised x.com/GergelyOrosz/status/1838792264853705131″>concerns on whether WordPress will take action against other companies that use the “WP” abbreviation or trademark.
But in a dispute that aims to clarify what WordPress is and is not, Mullenweg risks blurring the lines even further. WordPress.org and WordPress.com are right, but it seems like they are working together to achieve this.
