news
On WordPress as Content Management System (CMS) and Plugins
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The Register UK ☛ Linux Foundation tries to play peacemaker in WordPress spat
The FAIR Package Manager project is a response to the legal brawl that erupted last year, pitting WordPress co-creator Matthew Mullenweg, his for-profit hosting firm Automattic, and the WordPress Foundation that he controls, against WP Engine, a rival commercial WordPress hosting firm.
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Joost de Valk ☛ A new path forward for WordPress, and for the open web
Back in December, I wrote about the state of leadership in the WordPress ecosystem. I shared how too much power rests with one person, and how the lack of clear governance puts contributors and businesses alike in difficult positions. That post ended with a call: we need to lead. That wasn’t rhetorical. It was a pivot.
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Joost de Valk ☛ Innovation in WordPress: a look at plugin development
The increase in plugin submissions got Marieke and me wondering about the relationship between plugin submission, actual plugin availability, and innovation within the WordPress ecosystem. As a result of all the recent changes, WordPress core releases can be somewhat sporadic. Marieke and I wanted to explore whether plugins are now the primary driver of innovation. Marieke took it upon herself to investigate how much plugin development contributes to WordPress’s evolution by going through heaps of changelogs, while I grabbed and analyzed a lot of data from WordPress.org.
Update
One more:
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WordPress veterans launch FAIR project to tackle security and control concerns
The project emerged earlier this year in response to controversial moves by Mullenweg. In September, he cut off access to WP Engine—a popular WordPress hosting provider—accusing it of extracting hundreds of millions of dollars in value from the open-source platform without adequate contributions in return. He also alleged that the company breached WordPress trademarks, creating confusion. Amid the fallout, around 150 employees exited Automattic after Mullenweg offered buyouts to those who disagreed with his handling of the situation.
A couple more:
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WordPress and Linux aim to boost open web security with FAIR project [Ed: Rubbish 'journalism' which conflates a Microsoft front with a kernel]
The project’s Technical Steering Committee is led by co-chairs, Carrie Dils, an educator and active figure in the WordPress community, Mika Epstein, a longtime WordPress contributor and former manager of the plugin repository, and Ryan McCue, the developer behind the WordPress REST API.
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Linux Foundation steps in with neutral solution to WordPress crisis [Ed: It's not neutral as it fronts for monopolies]
The fight between WordPress and WP Engine could bring the entire WP community to an unprecedented breakup. It's why the Linux Foundation is trying to avoid the worst-case scenario with an alternative platform for distributing and sharing WP-related content.
Late coverage in LWN:
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FAIR package management for WordPress
Mullenweg used his keynote at last year's WordCamp US to complain that Automattic competitor WP Engine was not contributing enough to the WordPress ecosystem. In addition, he said that it violated WordPress trademarks by removing some of the content-management system's (CMS) revision features.
As a result, WP Engine traded cease-and-desist letters with Automattic, and then filed a 62-page complaint against the company and Mullenweg personally. Since then, Mullenweg has been using his control of the WordPress.org infrastructure as a weapon against WP Engine, as well as members of the WordPress community that have questioned his actions. He blocked WP Engine's access to WordPress.org, terminated a number of people's WordPress.org accounts, seized control of WP Engine's plugins hosted on WordPress.org, and more.
In October, a project called AspirePress was launched to respond to the problem that ""every WordPress instance in the world has a single point of failure"" in the form of WordPress.org. That project sought to provide a community-run mirror for WordPress plugins and updates, and also helped lay the groundwork for FAIR.pm.
WP Engine was granted a preliminary injunction, on December 10; the order forced Mullenweg to unblock WP Engine's access to WordPress.org, reactivate accounts, and restore its ownership of the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin on the site that had been hijacked by an Automattic-controlled fork of the plugin.