WordPress co-founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg spoke on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 on Wednesday, discussing the recent legal drama between his company Automattic and WordPress host WP Engine. said he was not worried that it would lead to a fork of open source WordPress. software. In fact, he said he welcomes it.
“There may be a fork in the road. I mean, we've had WordPress forks before — maybe three or four times in history. [of WordPress]” Mullenweg said in response to a question about whether he was worried about the possibility of a fork. “One of the great things about open source is that there can be forks.”
The Automattic CEO also suggested that the version rival WP Engine is running is “very, very different” from the current WordPress core, so much so that it has essentially already forked the software. Mullenweg suggested that a better path forward would be if WordPress were to be formally separated as a result of growing dissatisfaction with the community's direction and legal battles over WordPress trademark usage.
“I actually think that's a great thing, so people can have alternative governance and alternative approaches,” he said.
The executive also noted that the size of the WordPress community could support such a move. For example, WordPress 6.7, which will be released in the next few weeks, has over 600 contributors. “Only about 10% of that comes from Automattic,” Mullenweg says.
It also noted that WordPress' core software has been downloaded approximately 40 million times since September 17th. “The actual activity for WordPress is very strong,” he added.
This interview comes amid a bitter legal dispute with WordPress hosting provider WP Engine. The lawsuit roiled the open source community and resulted in the resignation of more than 150 Automattic employees who disagreed with Mullenweg's new direction.
Mullenweg said WP Engine's use of the “WP” brand is intended to confuse people into thinking WP Engine is officially associated with WordPress, rather than WP Engine being officially associated with WordPress. The company argued that this suggests that the company is not contributing enough to WordPress. (and others) don't agree with that. As a result, he's asking WP Engine to share 8% of the revenue (or the equivalent of core engineering time).
“It's not just about the money. It's really…if you're going to profit from the WordPress trademark, you need to be part of the WordPress ecosystem,” Mullenweg said at Disrupt.
This isn't the first time Mullenweg has suggested a fork is a possible solution to the ongoing debate over the future of WordPress. In early October, he posted on X that “more forks are welcome.”
There was a fork of @WordPress in front: @GetClassicPress@wpengine Basically we're keeping the fork now, we just haven't changed the name. And it infringes the trademarks of WordPress and WooCommerce.
We welcome more forks! That's part of the beauty of open source.
— Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) October 10, 2024