Aligning Automattic’s Sponsored Contributions to WordPress
by "Automattic" (let's be honest, it's Matt Mullenweg)Automattic plan to fuck themselves over further (and by proxy, fuck their customers over) by reducing the contributions they're going to make to their own project.
So I read this post after it was shared on the fedi (as I no longer subscribe to any of Matt's RSS feeds) and honestly, it left me dumbfounded. There's a couple of quotes from the post that I want to print here and opine on, but please, before you reader further, go read the original post.
Additionally, we’re having to spend significant time and money to defend ourselves against the legal attacks started by WP Engine and funded by Silver Lake, a large private equity firm.
Are you for real, Matt? You started this mess!
We’ve also faced intense criticism and even personal attacks against a number of Automatticians from members of the “community” who want Matt and others to step away from the project.
I've spoken to a number of people who work for Automattic and none of them felt attacked. They were all just disappointed in you, Matt. Say it as it is, you've been called out for your bullshit and you don't like it.
Having said the above, and knowing the internet, you probably have been personally attacked, and that I don't agree with. I think you're a dick, but I also think that nobody should be personally attacked.
Automattic will match its volunteering pledge with those made by WP Engine and other players in the ecosystem, or about 45 hours a week that qualify under the Five For the Future program as benefitting the entire community and not just a single company.
Judging by the amount of companies and services Automattic is buying up, WordPress is doing all right - it's certainly not "just a single company" that benefits from WordPress.
These hours will likely go towards security and critical updates.
So no more feature releases for the open source project then? Glad I'm on Kirby...
We’ve made the decision to reallocate resources due to the lawsuits from WP Engine. This legal action diverts significant time and energy that could otherwise be directed toward supporting WordPress’s growth and health.
Yeahhhh and definitely nothing to do with the fact that you offered to buy out anyone in the company and 20% of them called your bluff.
We will redirect our energy toward projects that can fortify WordPress for the long term—ensuring its resilience, relevance, and vitality for the next generation of users and contributors. Part of this will be making WordPress.com much closer to a core WordPress experience, instead of having a different interface.
This is good news. Wordpress.com is a shit show (in my opinion) and .org is far better. I have no idea why you guys decided to bastardise vanilla WordPress in the first place.
This realignment is not an end, but a new beginning—one that will ultimately strengthen the foundation of WordPress.
Hmmmmm, I'm not so sure, Matt.
Want more?
So you've read this post and you're still not satisfied? Ok then, here's some other stuff for you to do: