2 ms·

Mullenweg has done an excellent job of turning an issue where he has both the moral and legal high ground into one where he's the villain through overreaction,

Mullenweg has done an excellent job of turning an issue where he has both the moral and legal high ground into one where he's the villain through overreaction, ego, and unnecessary grandstanding. After seeing how he retributes against people and organizations he doesn't like, it's hard not to fundamentally worry about whether Wordpress is a legally safe platform on which to build one's business. (Comments about its historical insecurity aside.) Somebody needs to start telling him "no." Ideally he'd step aside. I doubt either of those things will ever happen.

kaycey2022 2y ago
Yes. This sums up how I feel. WPEngine are the private equity owned free riders. Ideally we should be supporting the open source project here. But this guy is such a goof, it’s painful.
nsonha 2y ago
I love that you frame it as him still having both the moral and legal high ground, he doesn't
- h4ny 2y ago
  Care to elaborate by referencing examples from the video?
- ivraatiems 2y ago
  I mean, doesn't he? WP Engine is certainly profiting off of Wordpress's trademark. They certainly are controlled by VCs who are not supportive of the broader Wordpress community. What makes you feel otherwise?
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - Brian_K_White 2y ago
    No he doesn't. WP Engine is profiting off of wordpress, not their trademark, the same as countless other consultants and service providers, and perfectly allowed even if no other companies were doing the same thing. They are controlled by vcs and don't give back much, if you don't count things that could be argued to be self-serving marketing, like hosting conventions. But so what? If you require that someone give ypu something in return for your software, then it's not open source. Just charge for it honetsly. He has no moral high ground by several different angles. Both because he has no right to get what he's complaining abput not getting, and he's wildly abusing his position in a public non-profit organization to extort a competitor to benefit his for-profit company. No integrity at all.
  - HyprMusic 2y ago
    WP engine does appear to be compliant with the terms that the Wordpress.org lists for using their trademark, from what I can tell: https://wordpressfoundation.org/trademark-policy/ https://wordpressfoundation.org/trademark-policy/

kaycey2022 2y ago

Yes. This sums up how I feel. WPEngine are the private equity owned free riders. Ideally we should be supporting the open source project here. But this guy is such a goof, it’s painful.

nsonha 2y ago

I love that you frame it as him still having both the moral and legal high ground, he doesn't

h4ny 2y ago
Care to elaborate by referencing examples from the video?
ivraatiems 2y ago
I mean, doesn't he? WP Engine is certainly profiting off of Wordpress's trademark. They certainly are controlled by VCs who are not supportive of the broader Wordpress community. What makes you feel otherwise?
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- Brian_K_White 2y ago
  No he doesn't. WP Engine is profiting off of wordpress, not their trademark, the same as countless other consultants and service providers, and perfectly allowed even if no other companies were doing the same thing. They are controlled by vcs and don't give back much, if you don't count things that could be argued to be self-serving marketing, like hosting conventions. But so what? If you require that someone give ypu something in return for your software, then it's not open source. Just charge for it honetsly. He has no moral high ground by several different angles. Both because he has no right to get what he's complaining abput not getting, and he's wildly abusing his position in a public non-profit organization to extort a competitor to benefit his for-profit company. No integrity at all.
- HyprMusic 2y ago
  WP engine does appear to be compliant with the terms that the Wordpress.org lists for using their trademark, from what I can tell: https://wordpressfoundation.org/trademark-policy/ https://wordpressfoundation.org/trademark-policy/