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>One of the many lies in Silver Lake and WP Engine’s C&D was their claim that Automattic demanded money from them moments before our CEO Matt Mullenweg gave his

>One of the many lies in Silver Lake and WP Engine’s C&D was their claim that Automattic demanded money from them moments before our CEO Matt Mullenweg gave his keynote at WordCamp US. >That is not true. Automattic asked for a verbal agreement that WP Engine would give some percentage of their revenue back into WordPress, either in the form of a trademark agreement or employee hours spent on core WordPress. Tomato-Tomato. Comedy gold.

znpy 2y ago
The guy from WP-Engine literally posted screenshot of texts from the WordPress guy demanding money in a ransom-style tone. At this point I hope this goes to court, so things can be properly examined according to law, otherwise it looks like childish tantrum.
- reddalo 2y ago
  > The guy from WP-Engine Who? Do you have a link?
  - ceejayoz 2y ago
    They are in the C&D WP Engine sent. Starting on the second page. https://wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Cease-and-Desist-Letter-to-Automattic-and-Request-to-Preserve-Documents-Sent.pdf https://wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Cease-and-De...
deleted 2y ago
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bad_user 2y ago
Well, it is true that money wasn't the only option. And the quote is out of context. The article also gives a timetable of conversations that happened between Automattic and WP Engine well in advance; therefore, the demands shouldn't have been a surprise, as claimed.
- kichik 2y ago
  Those are the first two paragraphs of the article. Verbatim. Can't get more in context than that.
philistine 2y ago
I'm not laughing. The whole Wordpress ecosystem was shown to instead be the personal fiefdom of a vindictive fool. A fool willing to completely destroy the reputation and trust of the ecosystem for what looks and smells like a personal vendetta. The whole idea of the separate entities of Wordpress.org, the Wordpress Foundation (which we learned is somehow not the same as Wordpress.org) and Wordpress.com (through Automattic) is nothing more than a smokescreen. If you're in the business of competing with Automattic in delivering Wordpress hosting, start building an exit plan.
ValentineC 2y ago
> >That is not true. Automattic asked for a verbal agreement that WP Engine would give some percentage of their revenue back into WordPress, either in the form of a trademark agreement or employee hours spent on core WordPress. In the term sheet, it's phrased as: > Commit 8% of its revenue in the form of salaries of WP Engine employees working on WordPress core features and functionality to be directed by WordPress.org. So, pay for employees to be directed by WordPress.org (not Automattic or WordPress Foundation, apparently just Matt).
- joelhaus 2y ago
  Adding to the strangeness, as the owner of WordPress.org, is Matt violating the trademark owned by the foundation or is there another undisclosed licensing agreement?
deleted 2y ago
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znpy 2y ago

The guy from WP-Engine literally posted screenshot of texts from the WordPress guy demanding money in a ransom-style tone. At this point I hope this goes to court, so things can be properly examined according to law, otherwise it looks like childish tantrum.

reddalo 2y ago
> The guy from WP-Engine Who? Do you have a link?
- ceejayoz 2y ago
  They are in the C&D WP Engine sent. Starting on the second page. https://wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Cease-and-Desist-Letter-to-Automattic-and-Request-to-Preserve-Documents-Sent.pdf https://wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Cease-and-De...

deleted 2y ago

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bad_user 2y ago

Well, it is true that money wasn't the only option. And the quote is out of context. The article also gives a timetable of conversations that happened between Automattic and WP Engine well in advance; therefore, the demands shouldn't have been a surprise, as claimed.

kichik 2y ago
Those are the first two paragraphs of the article. Verbatim. Can't get more in context than that.

philistine 2y ago

I'm not laughing. The whole Wordpress ecosystem was shown to instead be the personal fiefdom of a vindictive fool. A fool willing to completely destroy the reputation and trust of the ecosystem for what looks and smells like a personal vendetta. The whole idea of the separate entities of Wordpress.org, the Wordpress Foundation (which we learned is somehow not the same as Wordpress.org) and Wordpress.com (through Automattic) is nothing more than a smokescreen. If you're in the business of competing with Automattic in delivering Wordpress hosting, start building an exit plan.

ValentineC 2y ago

> >That is not true. Automattic asked for a verbal agreement that WP Engine would give some percentage of their revenue back into WordPress, either in the form of a trademark agreement or employee hours spent on core WordPress. In the term sheet, it's phrased as: > Commit 8% of its revenue in the form of salaries of WP Engine employees working on WordPress core features and functionality to be directed by WordPress.org. So, pay for employees to be directed by WordPress.org (not Automattic or WordPress Foundation, apparently just Matt).

joelhaus 2y ago
Adding to the strangeness, as the owner of WordPress.org, is Matt violating the trademark owned by the foundation or is there another undisclosed licensing agreement?

deleted 2y ago

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