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I believe the short of it is, create a massive business built on Wordpress but contribute zero funding or resources back to Wordpress, and then bicker with wp t

by soared 2y ago

I believe the short of it is, create a massive business built on Wordpress but contribute zero funding or resources back to Wordpress, and then bicker with wp throughout this drama.

0cf8612b2e1e 2y ago
So…did everything they are legally allowed to do? I get Redis and Elastic Search are mad at Amazon, but that’s what happens when you release code under an open license. Also, the recent ACF business would show that WPE were being stewards of one of the backbone plugins of the ecosystem.
Arainach 2y ago
>contribute zero funding or resources Demonstrably not true. Matt may not be happy with the amount of resource, but people associated with WPE make all sorts of contributions to the Wordpress community. The Wordpress license does not require any contributions. If they wanted that to be forced they should have licensed accordingly. To demand payment to Matt's for-profit company and withhold access to the non-profit Wordpress.org is a shakedown akin to demanding protection money, full stop.
runako 2y ago
If WP was supposed to have a new class of license (let's call it "transactional source"), they really should have published with that license. Instead, they licensed under Stallman's GPL2. Given his general ethos around freedom of software, I would honestly be curious to hear his thoughts on using trademark as a cudgel to arbitrarily prevent otherwise-permitted uses of GPL-licensed code.
- ValentineC 2y ago
  WordPress was a fork of b2/cafelog to start with [1], which meant that they had to stick with the GPL. [1] https://wordpress.org/book/2015/11/the-blogging-software-dilemma/ https://wordpress.org/book/2015/11/the-blogging-software-dil...
  - runako 2y ago
    Correct, which adds to the reasons they really shouldn’t be trying to shake down users.
snowwrestler 2y ago
Building a massive business out of an open source project is by itself a huge contribution to the project. Ecosystem growth is a tide that lifts all ships.
lesuorac 2y ago
Can't wait for Linus to start badmouthing everybody that offers linux hosting.

by soared 2y ago

I believe the short of it is, create a massive business built on Wordpress but contribute zero funding or resources back to Wordpress, and then bicker with wp throughout this drama.

0cf8612b2e1e 2y ago

So…did everything they are legally allowed to do? I get Redis and Elastic Search are mad at Amazon, but that’s what happens when you release code under an open license. Also, the recent ACF business would show that WPE were being stewards of one of the backbone plugins of the ecosystem.

Arainach 2y ago

>contribute zero funding or resources Demonstrably not true. Matt may not be happy with the amount of resource, but people associated with WPE make all sorts of contributions to the Wordpress community. The Wordpress license does not require any contributions. If they wanted that to be forced they should have licensed accordingly. To demand payment to Matt's for-profit company and withhold access to the non-profit Wordpress.org is a shakedown akin to demanding protection money, full stop.

runako 2y ago

If WP was supposed to have a new class of license (let's call it "transactional source"), they really should have published with that license. Instead, they licensed under Stallman's GPL2. Given his general ethos around freedom of software, I would honestly be curious to hear his thoughts on using trademark as a cudgel to arbitrarily prevent otherwise-permitted uses of GPL-licensed code.

ValentineC 2y ago
WordPress was a fork of b2/cafelog to start with [1], which meant that they had to stick with the GPL. [1] https://wordpress.org/book/2015/11/the-blogging-software-dilemma/ https://wordpress.org/book/2015/11/the-blogging-software-dil...
- runako 2y ago
  Correct, which adds to the reasons they really shouldn’t be trying to shake down users.

snowwrestler 2y ago

Building a massive business out of an open source project is by itself a huge contribution to the project. Ecosystem growth is a tide that lifts all ships.

lesuorac 2y ago

Can't wait for Linus to start badmouthing everybody that offers linux hosting.