alt Hacker Newsis this not true?
Main Points of Contention Trademark and Branding Issues Mullenweg accuses WP Engine of misusing the WordPress trademark and causing confusion among users1. WP Engine has since changed some of its plan names to address these concerns1. Open Source Contributions Mullenweg criticizes WP Engine for not contributing enough to the WordPress open-source project relative to their profits5 . Core Feature Modifications WP Engine is accused of altering core WordPress features, particularly disabling post revisions by default2. Mullenweg argues this compromises the integrity of WordPress and its promise to users2.
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Like they said, go read up on it, since no this is not the story at all. By now there are many good write-ups.
No, it's not true.
WPEngine used "WP", which until a few weeks ago was explicitly stated as "feel free to use". Nominative usage also says factual statements are protected. If you offer WordPress hosting, you are allowed to say "We offer WordPress hosting". You might highlight (and WPE did) that "WordPress is a trademark of...".
Matt's claim, "My mom is confused and thinks that WPEngine is part of the open source project", is a deflection, and laughable coming from the man who runs wordpress.org as a "independent website" (running on the Foundation's IP addresses) and wordpress.com as a for-profit business. That seems just a little more confusing.
> Open Source Contributions Mullenweg criticizes WP Engine for not contributing enough to the WordPress open-source project relative to their profits
WPE donated hundreds of thousands a year to events alone, maintains several of the most popular plugins (all of which are free to use, unlike several of Automattic's, which are commercial).
> Core Feature Modifications WP Engine is accused of altering core WordPress features, particularly disabling post revisions by default
This is laughable. It's literally a configuration option in the control panel. It just defaults to "disabled" on WPE.
> Mullenweg argues this compromises the integrity of WordPress and its promise to users
Why is it even a configuration option, then, Matt?
Would love to know which pages you used in the prompt for that shoddy summary job.
To me it seems like he's using the trademark as a weapon to go after the competition, even through the Wordpress Foundation should be neutral. Many other companies, including his, also make money out of Wordpress.
And I think technically the owner of the trademark is Matt and not the Wordpress Foundation, but also technically, WP Engine isn't required by the license to give him money or contribute back, they are allowed to modify the code and required to share their modifications when they redistribute the software.