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0 points_fjg81y ago0 comments

And Automattic's control over WordPress is part of their "marketing" budget. Let's not forget how valuable the exclusive commercial license for the WordPress trademark is to Automattic, their ability to use the WordPress.com domain has huge commercial value to them. I have no doubt that WP Engine would pay tens of millions of dollars per year for the exclusive commercial license to the WordPress trademark which is tens of millions that could be funnelled to the WordPress Foundation, which is tens of millions more than Automattic spend. Ask yourself how Matt justifies Automattic spending millions of dollars per year on hosting WordPress.org and millions of dollars on the 100+ staff Automattic have working on WordPress.org.

We can't pick and choose which contributions are valid and which aren't. WP Engine spend money on the development of WPGraphQL a free plugin, WP Engine spend money on the development of Advanced Custom Fields which they release for free for millions of WordPress sites to use... of course they're not doing that out of some altruistic moral crusade, of course it's a clear calculus about the benefit to their bottom line, but that doesn't change that they're contributing.

The "Five for the Future" contributions are specifically about contributing to WordPress Core, which is owned and controlled by Matt Mullenweg: you're playing into Matt's absurd narrative that the only valid contribution is one that is made to something under Matt's control.

I think WP Engine are Private Equity leeches, I have zero doubt about that, I wish that they were to contribute more but that's the deal with Open Source software, that's what we choose to allow by releasing Open Source software. The moral obligation we have when we use Open Source software is to respect the license, Matt had the choice about the license to release WordPress under, he made the choice for it to be GPL.

dhh is more eloquent and authoritative than I, read these if you need further convincing:

https://world.hey.com/dhh/automattic-is-doing-open-source-di...

https://world.hey.com/dhh/open-source-royalty-and-mad-kings-...

0 comments

ValentineC1y ago

> Let's not forget how valuable the exclusive commercial license for the WordPress trademark is to Automattic, their ability to use the WordPress.com domain has huge commercial value to them.

In the discussion for this post alone, we have commenters with no idea that WordPress can be self-hosted, or that dot com has a free plan.

That's skimming the top for how confused a non-HN-reading layperson could be at the whole project.

shprd1y ago

> The "Five for the Future" contributions are specifically about contributing to WordPress Core, which is owned and controlled by Matt Mullenweg

And? It is the backbone that powers their entire business. You're acting like they're being asked to contribute to something they don't use. That should be the bare minimum. Even business wise it make sense to contribute to it and help make it better. It's absurd we're even having this discussion.

You're also inconsistent. You claim something is fine because it's legal (the license doesn't ask for more as a condition) but you condemn the other party reaction on a different grounds? I thought everything you can get away with, legally, is OK. Matt has barely scratched the surface of what's within his power to do in response.

aimazon1y ago

WP Engine are a Private Equity owned for-profit corporation who exist solely to hoover up as much revenue as possible, consequence be damned, that's Private Equity. Matt Mullenweg is an individual who professes to be an open-source software for-the-greater-good moral crusader. I hold them to very different standards. Matt has to behave according to his professed principles otherwise they're not his principles, they're just a mask.

I release Open Source software under a permissive license: if I leverage my control over that software to harm the consumers of my software that I believe are taking without giving, then I am far worse than a leech.

Regarding "WordPress Core": if WordPress Core is all that matters, why are plugins fundamental to WordPress? Why do millions of WordPress websites use Advanced Custom Fields?

You've repeated a bunch of Matt's lies, either you're uninformed or not impartial. The latter cannot be addressed, the former can. Read more, speak less.

jart1y ago

Everyone should be held to the same standards. If my professed principle was to be evil, then would you judge me negatively if I acted good?

I release software under a permissive license too. But I understand the only reason I'm able to do it, is because companies like Google and Mozilla believe in supporting people like me. There's this unwritten rule that the most successful people in our society should be philanthropic, because they're the only ones who can. However nothing formally requires this.

It's similar to how a company might officially give you unlimited vacation days. Imagine if one person tests that rule, and makes every day a vacation day. It would probably take years before someone tries that, but once someone actually does, the rules are going to quickly change for everyone and you might end up with a lot less freedom than before.

WPEngine has certainly tested the limits of the open source gift economy and the way Automattic is reacting isn't helping either. It's a sad thing to witness.

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shprd1y ago

> I hold them to very different standards

It's foolish to support a private equity against the guy because you hold him to a higher standards. It doesn't even make sense.

But this discussion is unlikely to lead anywhere.

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0 points_fjg81y ago0 comments

dhh is more eloquent and authoritative than I, read these if you need further convincing:

https://world.hey.com/dhh/automattic-is-doing-open-source-di...

https://world.hey.com/dhh/open-source-royalty-and-mad-kings-...

0 comments

ValentineC1y ago

> Let's not forget how valuable the exclusive commercial license for the WordPress trademark is to Automattic, their ability to use the WordPress.com domain has huge commercial value to them.

In the discussion for this post alone, we have commenters with no idea that WordPress can be self-hosted, or that dot com has a free plan.

That's skimming the top for how confused a non-HN-reading layperson could be at the whole project.

shprd1y ago

> The "Five for the Future" contributions are specifically about contributing to WordPress Core, which is owned and controlled by Matt Mullenweg

aimazon1y ago

Regarding "WordPress Core": if WordPress Core is all that matters, why are plugins fundamental to WordPress? Why do millions of WordPress websites use Advanced Custom Fields?

You've repeated a bunch of Matt's lies, either you're uninformed or not impartial. The latter cannot be addressed, the former can. Read more, speak less.

jart1y ago

Everyone should be held to the same standards. If my professed principle was to be evil, then would you judge me negatively if I acted good?

WPEngine has certainly tested the limits of the open source gift economy and the way Automattic is reacting isn't helping either. It's a sad thing to witness.

1 more reply

shprd1y ago

> I hold them to very different standards

It's foolish to support a private equity against the guy because you hold him to a higher standards. It doesn't even make sense.

But this discussion is unlikely to lead anywhere.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse