solomon42069

The WordPress codebase is open source, with Automatic being a major contributor. Automatic also offers WordPress hosting via their .org domain. WP Engine (WPE) is a separate company offering its own WordPress hosting and products like ACF, which enhance the WordPress ecosystem.

The issue between Automatic and WPE is that WPE relies on Automatic’s update servers to support their for-profit service. Given WPE’s scale, it’s questionable why they continue to do this, as many smaller companies set up their own servers for updates.

I work with WordPress and CI/CD systems, and even one man operations maintain independent build systems to avoid vendor dependencies. When updating, they use copies of original code hosted on private GitHub accounts and their servers rather than relying on external resources.

This matter should have been resolved in court. While Automatic’s actions have caused some backlash, they’re understandable as protective measures. WPE’s reliance on free resources without their own package/update servers is, frankly, inexcusable at their scale—it’s essential for customer support and product quality.

In short, this is about a competitor misusing free resources under "reasonable use" terms, facing consequences, and shifting blame rather than helping their disrupted users.

Of course its slower.. how else are they gonna con millions of people into buying new smartphones they don't need?

Good luck getting the Australian government to do anything. We might have the most embarrassingly ineffective government in the western world.

I like the idea social media is for kids only and adults are banned. If that applies to advertisers and bots too then it could be a winner!

What on Earth are you on about? This has nothing to do with licensing. The issue is a business using another organization’s resources without paying for it, all while earning a profit for themselves.

This isn't about open source, personal attacks, or "brain cells." It’s about fairness and the responsible use of resources. WPEngine is a profitable company that has the means to manage its own infrastructure instead of relying on WordPress.org’s updates system. If you're going to run a business that depends on open-source software, there’s an expectation of contributing back or, at the very least, not exploiting the resources of a non-profit.

So let’s focus on the actual problem: a large company exploiting a shared ecosystem to run a commercial service.

As a career WordPress developer, I fully support WordPress’s stance on this issue. It’s unreasonable for a company to siphon resources from a non-profit to fuel their own hosting business.

For smaller companies, lacking the ability to manage their own updates or CI/CD processes is understandable. But WPEngine is a large organization—they have the resources and capacity to handle these issues in-house. They could have easily avoided this situation without turning it into a turf war.

Edit: I see the WPEngine fans have arrived. Feel free to downvote, but that doesn’t make you right!

What I'm hearing is that men in their seventies might be too old and weak to be world leaders...

Weird he hasn't led his troops into battle without a shirt on yet. It's almost as if his entire tough guy image is a lie.

Health scam system

Where all the homies he pushed out of the way? The trampled? The neglected kids?

And let's not forget the spouse! He should be on his third or fourth.

It's always the ones you suspect the most.