WordPress co-founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg, rocking the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, ain’t sweating the recent legal tango between Automattic and WP Engine. In fact, he’s all for a fork in the open source WordPress software. Yup, he’s cool with it.
Mullenweg even hinted that WP Engine might as well have forked the software already with their super-different version. And if a proper fork happens due to the ongoing drama and disagreements, he’s totally on board. He’s like, “Bring it on!”
The WordPress community is strong enough to handle such a move, with over 600 contributors for the upcoming WordPress 6.7 release. And only a small chunk of them are from Automattic. So, the software is still buzzing with activity, downloads hitting the 40 million mark since September 17.
Now, onto the juicy stuff – the beef with WP Engine. Mullenweg’s not happy with their use of the “WP” brand, accusing them of trying to ride the WordPress wave when they’re not officially linked. He’s asking for a piece of the revenue pie or some engineering hours contribution to the core. It’s not just about the money, it’s about being a true part of the WordPress family.
And oh, this isn’t the first time Mullenweg has mentioned a fork as a possible way out of this mess. He’s all for it, even tweeting about it. So, bring on the forks, ’cause that’s the beauty of open source, baby!
