After years of pouring significant human and financial resources into the open source project, a strategic overhaul is needed. The cause: a series of legal disputes launched by WP Engine and financed by Silver Lake, a major private equity fund. This context is forcing Automattic to rethink its priorities to ensure a sustainable future for WordPress.
New challenges and realignment of contributions
WordPress owes much to Automattic for its growth and stability. However, tensions within the ecosystem threaten this harmony. Automattic recently announced a significant reduction in its direct contributions to the WordPress source code. This temporary withdrawal follows legal attacks initiated by WP Engine, accused of abusing the WordPress brand and of failing to collaborate fairly.
According to recent statements by Matt Mullenweg, founder of Automattic and WordPress veteran, it is time to restructure efforts that benefit the entire community. The redistribution of contribution activities is seen as necessary, despite the inconvenience caused by these legal battles. Automattic is now committed to aligning its volunteer hours with those of its competitors, or around 45 hours per week.A rapprochement with the “Five For the Future” approach, which aims to strengthen the involvement of companies in the maintenance of the open source project, seems relevant here.
Reorientation towards profitable projects
While the litigation continues, Automattic is redirecting its teams towards commercially viable initiatives such as WordPress.com, Pressable, WPVIP, Jetpack, and WooCommerce. The goal is to stabilize and secure the company financially while maintaining a foothold in the WordPress universe. This decision, while inevitable, is viewed with caution by members of the open source community who fear a loss of momentum in the future technical improvements of the project.
The leading technology stack that is WordPress relies heavily on free and concerted contributions from multiple stakeholders. Reducing the contributions of such a major stakeholder could disrupt the pre-existing balance. However, Automattic assures that this is only a temporary measure dictated by the current circumstances. Once the disputes are settled and legal fears are dispelled, the company aims to come back in force to support the many sub-projects of WordPress such as Gutenberg, Playground, Openverse, and WordPress.org.
Hope for a return to normal
Official communications from Automattic suggest a bright future post-litigation. The company remains optimistic that these disputes can be resolved in a fair and balanced manner for all market participants. Matt Mullenweg regularly expresses his hope that WP Engine will reconsider its actions to allow a return to active contributions, not only to the core of WordPress, but also to other related projects essential to the flourishing of the platform.
Mullenweg and his collaborators insist on the importance of renewed and harmonious cooperation to preserve the resilience and relevance of the software. Constantly celebrating the principles of transparency and collaboration, Automattic presents itself as a guarantor of the sustainability of WordPress, ready to intensify its efforts as soon as circumstances allow.
The integrity of the WordPress Foundation in question
Prominent voices in the WordPress community nevertheless raise questions about the independence of the WordPress Foundation itself. Several voices call for total autonomy of the structure so that it is not subject to the interests of specific companies, even if they have a founding role. Greater independence could prevent situations where strategic directions are influenced by divergent commercial interests.
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