WordPress.org is Private
Recent court documents have revealed how Matt Mullenweg views the role of WordPress.org in relation to the open-source community.
“The administrative motion’s misleading summary of the parties’ dispute portrays this case as being about Defendants supposedly ‘abusing their control’ of WordPress. Administrative Motion at 1:15-16. Not so. This case is not about Plaintiff’s access to WordPress. WordPress is open-source software that is, always has been, and remains freely available to Plaintiff—anyone in the world, including Plaintiff, can visit https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress and download WordPress software for their own use, for free. Rather than being about access to WordPress software, this case is about WordPress.org – a website owned and run by Defendant Matt Mullenweg individually, for the benefit of the community he loves.
WordPress.org is not WordPress. WordPress.org is not Automattic or the WordPress Foundation, and is not controlled by either. To the contrary, as Plaintiff itself acknowledges, WordPress.org is Mr. Mullenweg’s responsibility.”
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.437474/gov.uscourts.cand.437474.33.0.pdf
Mullenweg states that users can download WordPress from GitHub. However, WordPress.org makes it clear that users should “never download or install WordPress from any website other than https://wordpress.org.” – https://developer.wordpress.org/advanced-administration/security/hardening/
The issue is that Mullenweg believes WP Engine is misrepresenting itself as an official part of WordPress. WP Engine is an online platform that provides specialized hosting services for WordPress users. Content revision history is disabled on WP Engine due to cost, which Mullenweg believes violates the spirit of WordPress, which aims to protect all content. In Automattic’s statement that WP Engine is not WordPress, Mullenweg mentioned that WP Engine needs “a trademark license to continue their business” if they are a business based on WordPress open-source software.
I am bothered by Mullenweg’s actions. Will all people who build plugins, themes, and code need trademark licenses? My webcomic hustle runs on WordPress. I took classes at PCC on how to build WP themes. Will I need some kind of legal license to work as a WP developer? Considering the actions of tech oligarchs like Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg, I doubt Mullenweg will show any restraint in the future.
Because 40% of internet sites run on WordPress, it would be foolish to stop using it. But it would be more foolish to forget that WordPress is a compromised tool for web development. I am compelled to follow Mr. Mullenweg’s statement and use GitHub for all my WordPress needs rather than WordPress.org. WordPress.org is a private website, and I am not entitled to download software from that website.