The latest WordPress-related news: Matt Mullenweg, the head of Automattic (the company that manages the open source version of WordPress software, as well as runs WordPress.com and Tumblr), is engaged in a dispute with managed WordPress hosting company WP Engine. The reason? He’s accused WP Engine of: not contributing enough to WordPress software development; supposedly not treating WordPress properly on its services; and supposedly infringing upon WordPress’ trademarks.
As such, Mullenweg has had WP Engine’s access to WordPress software, plugin and theme updates cut off (it’s since been restored as of this writing), and sent a cease and desist letter demanding payment for the trademark-related aspects. WP Engine in turn feels that they haven’t done anything wrong, and has issued its own cease and desist letter to Automattic. Mullenweg has also had the language to WordPress’ trademark policy page changed to specifically call out WP Engine.
The Verge has a full summary of the dispute.
My thoughts
I’ve never used WP Engine, but recall their strong presence at WordCamp, the annual conventions held for WordPress developers and users in cities around the world. I even have old WP Engine and WordCamp T-shirts from attending WordCamp in the 2010s. However, I do note WP Engine is expensive, and is currently backed by private equity funding (all the flaws that brings). That said, the worst I can think of about them is they’re just an expensive managed WordPress hosting company, and there’s cheaper/better/private equity-free WordPress hosting options available. As for WP Engine not contributing to WordPress, WordPress is free and open source software, so there’s nothing in its license against a company not contributing to its development, even if that’d be nice.
Meanwhile, Automattic and Mullenweg come off looking desperately rent-seeking. I’m wondering if this newfound aggressive demand for trademark payments will extend to other WordPress hosts, especially since Automattic is trying to trademark the widely-used phrases “managed WordPress” and “hosted WordPress.” As WordPress powers over 40% of internet websites, that’s quite a few web hosts that could run afoul of using common phrases to describe their services. Of course, Automattic runs its own commercial WordPress hosting via WordPress.com, raising conflict of interest concerns.
All this also casts a bad look on WordPress as a platform; it’s also another questionable act Automattic’s done this year. Early this year, Automattic announced plans to sell Tumblr and WordPress.com user data for AI scraping. For the average user who just wants a website or blog, Automattic may as well be giving free advertising to competitors like Squarespace and Ghost.
The future of WordPress (and my usage)
For myself, my enthusiasm for WordPress has definitely waned. Along with the above problems, I strongly dislike WordPress moving to the Gutenberg block editor, which is clearly designed more for site layout/design than as a tool for writers/bloggers. (The Classic Editor plugin having over 10 million installations says it all.) Unfortunately, there aren’t many other options for a content management system (CMS) with WordPress-style features and usability. Longtime readers may recall I’ve tried Ghost and ClassicPress, but those had their own downsides, so I went back to WordPress.
As for a long-term solution for WordPress in general, at this point I’m hoping for one or more of the following:
- One of the WordPress alternatives that exist improves and gains traction.
- Related to the above, a fork of WordPress emerges that becomes popular. A WordPress fork would be an easier sell, given WordPress’ dominance as a platform.
- WordPress development gets new leadership.
That said, I don’t think WordPress itself is going anywhere anytime soon. Still, I do hope something changes, if AI and shaking down WordPress hosts for cash are signs of the current direction of WordPress and Automattic. My blog’s staying on WordPress for now, but only because I haven’t been too big on the alternatives:
- Ghost feels barebones (as does a static site generator). My attempt at self-hosting Ghost didn’t go well; needing a third party for comments alone was a major flaw.
- ClassicPress relies too much on WordPress for plugins/themes. It also hasn’t gotten much attention, despite being the only WordPress fork I know of with remotely any traction.
- Blogspot has been ignored by Google for years, and seems like one Google whim away from being disappeared like a lot of their other services.
- Drupal and Joomla are too difficult to use, and overkill for my purposes.
- Squarespace and Wix seem too proprietary, and more geared toward running a site versus a blog.
Still, if you have any alternatives to suggest, feel free to list them in the comments.
Image by Alexander Gounder from Pixabay
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Like you, I would also like to find an alternative to WordPress that reminds me of the WordPress that I remember from not too long ago, which seemed devoted to bloggers, not to developers.
I also hope that ClassicPress (or something like it) can make a go of it and I can make the switch to them. Unfortunately, if I move over there now, I would have to give up many of the plugins (those won-won-wonderful plugins!) that I have worked so hard to find, learn, and activate on my sites to make my sites what they are today.
As someone once famous once said, “So it goes.”
Keep on keepin’ on with Diverse TechGeek …
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