WordPress vs. WP Engine
Matt Mullenweg is pissed and WP Engine is feeling his wrath. The WordPress founder and Automattic CEO is clarifying that WP Engine has nothing to do with them and last week, banned it from WordPress. Some folks using WordPress and WP Engine are still confused about what’s going on because they thought the two were related. That’s exactly the problem, so let’s take a walk down WTF is Going On Lane.
P.S. While I use WordPress to build websites, I don’t use WP Engine, so if you’re a client reading this and wondering why I didn’t bring this up to you, it’s because it doesn’t directly affect us and no one wants a scary email for no reason.
The Background
One of the most popular open-source content management systems (CMS), WordPress is a platform that allows users to build and publish websites. Those websites need web hosting, which is how a site’s files are stored, maintained, and accessible to folks on Beyoncé’s Internet. Website owners often use a hosting provider like Automattic or WP Engine.
A reminder: Mullenweg is the CEO of Automattic (spelled this way as a nod to Mullenweg’s first name) and the founder of WordPress. Automattic owns WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.org is an open-source project and the expectation when using it is that if you are profiting off of it, you should be helping to advance it. Kind of an “all hands on deck” situation. WP Engine allegedly isn’t contributing as much as WordPress.org would like, nor are they paying for a trademark license. Mullenweg essentially claims that WP Engine has built its business off of hosting WordPress websites without contributing as others in their position have.
On Saturday, September 21st, Mullenweg wrote a blog in which he called WP Engine “a cancer to WordPress” and admitted his own mother didn’t know the two weren’t related. That confusion has led to WordPress taking “a scorched earth nuclear approach.” More on that in a moment. First, let’s get into these main problems.
The Issues
Confusion & Trademarks
On their recently updated Trademark Policy page, WordPress states that the abbreviation “WP” is not covered by the WordPress trademark but that businesses should be careful not to confuse people by using it. This one’s going to take a while and isn’t resolved yet, so we’ll leave it at that.
Revisions
Mullenweg wrote in his September 21st blog, “What WP Engine gives you is not WordPress” and, “They’re giving you a cheap knock-off and charging you more for it.” An issue he called out at that point was their lack of revisions, which can hurt the customer and potentially lead to other companies doing the same thing.
If you were to publish a blog using WP Engine, then go back and edit it, but later decide you need to return to the original version, it’s no longer there. WP Engine claims that saving revisions slows down websites. If I were to venture a guess as to what the real issue is, it would be about saving server space. Mullenweg may have been okay with this, except for the fact that, again, WP Engine isn’t contributing to the open-source project as much as he’d like and they’re not paying those trademark licensing fees.
Contributions
WordPress has a Five for the Future program, which helps support the open source project by contributing resources and education. The idea behind it is to spend 95% of your time building your tool(s) and 5% of your time helping to improve WordPress. Spending 5% of your time working on another project can be difficult and that seems to be where a good portion of the problem lies. Many companies, like Yoast, have dedicated employees working full-time to improve WordPress, as they believe it also helps their software in the long run.
The Cease & Desists Fly
On Monday, September 23rd, WP Engine sent a cease and desist letter to Automattic, alleging that “Mr. Mullenweg’s words and conduct constitute actionable wrongdoing and must cease immediately.” Automattic then sent their own cease and desist letter to WP Engine over issues like trademark infringement. Mullenweg followed that up with a post on his blog, which claims he’s “offered WP Engine the option of how to pay their fair share: either pay a direct licensing fee, or make in-kind contributions to the open source project.”
By Wednesday, September 25th, WordPress banned WP Engine, effectively blocking WP Engine customers from updating and installing themes and plugins through WP Admin. This has left a lot of WP Engine customers wondering if they should migrate their website or move to another web host. On Friday, September 27th, WordPress temporarily lifted the ban until Tuesday, October 1st, and as of now (September 30th), an extension hasn’t been offered. Not the best news for developers who have to rush to figure out their next moves.
Future WP Trademark Problems
There are other platforms, software, and plugins using the “WP” abbreviation without being related to WordPress. The whole thing with WordPress and WP Engine has them rightfully concerned about what this means for their future. The WordPress Foundation, which owns the WordPress trademark, filed to trademark “Managed WordPress” and “Hosted WordPress.” If those are granted, it could mean heavy repercussions for a ton of businesses in the space.
Hope for a Resolution
What could happen is Mullenweg is forced to step down as CEO of Automattic and lawyers step in to clean this up. What is likely to happen, given that WordPress is the bigger, stronger entity, holding a 42.9% market share of all websites online and a 65.1% market share of websites using CMS technology, is that a deal will be ironed out and WP Engine will either pay trademark fees and/or agree to contribute a specific amount of ongoing work to the open source project. There’s also a probable third option, which is a lengthy legal battle that could put one or both companies in a precarious situation they don’t want. Time will tell and hopefully cooler heads prevail.