Open source champion or blackmail attempt? WordPress.org against WP Engine
Many millions of US dollars, open source principles and commercial success with free software are at stake: WordPress.org and WP Engine are at war.
(Image: iX)
Commercial cancer or blackmail attempt – The dispute between WordPress.org and WP Engine has escalated. The developer of the popular open source CMS has now blocked the hosting provider's access to WordPress.org's resources. This not only has an impact on business, but also directly affects customers: In addition to themes and extensions, they also obtain updates and, above all, bug fixes from here. This means that WP Engine users are now without updates.
WordPress or WP Engine?
But how did this situation come about? WordPress.org CEO Matt Mullenweg took on WP Engine in the WordPress blog a few days ago: The provider was not WordPress, even his mother would confuse the two, customers were being hoodwinked and, worst of all, WP Engine was not contributing financially or via code (converted into 40 working hours per week) to the further development of the CMS despite the high profit. WP Engine is a cancer for WordPress that will continue to spread if no action is taken now.
However, Mullenweg is not only concerned with money, because in his opinion, WP Engine is also particularly bad for users: WordPress is designed so that errors can always be undone. This is important, not least for reasons of data security. But WP Engine deactivates this central function because it would cost the operator more money. And on the list of recommended hosting providers, WP Engine is the only one to disable this by default. In the end, the company would offer something that looks like WordPress – but chop it up and still charge more for it.
Mullenweg uses the hosting provider Automattic as a positive comparison, because despite its similar size, it would contribute 3915 hours per week. However, it should be noted that Automattic operates the WordPress.com platform and its CEO is also Matt Mullenweg. On the other hand, WP Engine's hard-nosed approach is not just a pipe dream: The private equity company Silver Lake invested 100 million US dollars in the provider – at the beginning of 2018, and Mullenweg's assumption that the investor subsequently wants to see correspondingly high growth, including profit, is not just plucked out of the air. In Germany, for example, Silver Lake is notorious for its takeover of Software AG.
Letters from lawyers
Automattic has also sent a warning letter to WP Engine: The operator was using the WordPress brand without the owner's consent and would mislead customers into believing that there was a business relationship between the two companies. However, Automattic/WordPress is willing to reach an amicable agreement – WP Engine should disclose its figures and then pay license fees. The letter assumes that "only" eight percent of the profit represents more than 32 million US dollars in "lost" license fees for WordPress. WP Engine has until October 3 to comply.
However, WP Engine's lawyers did not wait that long and reject Mullenweg's "threats". The publicly accessible letter claims that Automattic's CFO Mark Davies threatened WP Engine with "war" a few days ago if the hosting provider did not consistently transfer large sums of money. Mullenweg also directly insulted several WP Engine employees in text messages, excluded the company from WordPress community events and threatened to explicitly target WP Engine in front of millions of viewers in the livestream of his keynote and on YouTube. The exact course of events leading up to Mullenweg's presentation cannot be independently verified – Screenshots can only be found in WP Engine's letter.
What is certain, however, is that the keynote was a Q&A at WordCamp US – at which Mullenweg actually made his accusations against WP Engine clear. In addition to unverifiable statements about the internal structure at WP Engine –, including intimidating employees –, he reiterated that the provider deliberately misuses the WordPress brand, has no interest in open source and that users would probably get better performance from other hosters. WP Engine naturally rejects these accusations directly.
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In response to this – There is currently no further information on the disputes behind the scenes – Mullenweg blocked WP Engine's access to WordPress.org. He is aware that this step will also put many users in trouble: they should contact WP Engine support.
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And the users?
The reaction of users is at least ambivalent, as neither WordPress and Mullenweg nor WP Engine are currently popular with many. Several users see the dispute as a clear attempt at blackmail and not a battle between an open source project and a corporation. On the other hand, many users point out that WP Engine has no claim to access to WordPress.org –. How and where the developers make the source code available is independent of the operation of a practical platform with collected updates, extensions and more. Unsurprisingly, there are initial considerations of a fork by users, even if such an undertaking would be difficult to say the least given the complexity of WordPress.
(fo)
