alt Hacker News> the problem ... with people like this is that it never stops.
By contrast, this doesn't make WPE look good:
WP Engine had been siphoning “tens of millions” of dollars away from Woo’s revenue share partnership with Stripe into its own coffers. It’s understood WP Engine has been swapping out WooCommerce’s Stripe Connect Account information for its own when a user installs WooCommerce.
That's the sort of thing that, if a proven problem, could seem less like a shakedown and more like active wire fraud.
EDIT: As replies note, GPL. OK, but I realize I grew up thinking if someone gives me software it isn't to rip out their revenue model and replace it with mine, it is for me to do my own value added thing with it. Meaning, the stealth edit might not be wrong, but still seems uncool.
Replies
WPE does not touch WooCommerce in any way. WooCommerce is a plugin that is itself extended through more plugins, including ones for working with payment providers such as Stripe. WPE makes a Stripe payment plugin that works with multiple eCommerce setups, including WooCommerce. WPE's plugin naturally uses WPE's affiliate code.
Matt cannot stand competition, that's all.
Or at least misleading the consumer - which is also not cool.
That is completely legal and ethical.
WooCommerce is an open source, GPL project which allows people to modify the code in any way, including changing Stripe details, provided that they comply with the terms of the license.
Licenses are a fundamental part of open source precisely so that in situations like this everyone knows the rules of the game.
Isn't it just that WP Engine made their own Stripe plugin for Woo? Why is this being called out as wrong?
It might be sketchy, but WooCommerce is a GPL project: https://github.com/woocommerce/woocommerce/blob/trunk/plugin...
This is explicitly the sort of thing that WP Engine would be allowed to do, and if Automattic isn't happy about this then perhaps they should have chosen non-free licenses.
Basically: "wire fraud" is an extremely overblown claim. Nothing criminal is happening here, because they're complying with the license. Is it ethical? Debatable.