Wordpress wants WP Engine to contribute to the source code because it makes money off Wordpress and uses its servers. I think this is very reasonable.
I'm pretty sure WP Engine could patch Wordpress to use its own infrastructure, so this isn't a really as much of a security risk as people claim. Distros have been doing this since forever. This isn't much different from a Youtuber getting banned from Youtube. If you build your entire business upon a single point of failure, this kind of thing can happen.
But I'd rather there was a path forward for them. Right now it's either 1) Matt gets fired as CEO so WP Engine can continue leeching off Wordpress, or 2) WP Engine has to support its own weight fragmenting the Wordpress ecosystem.
Although I use Wordpress I have no idea what people think Wordpress is supposed to be. I love Gutenberg, but everyone hates it, and some hate it because they compare it to site builders instead of WYSIWYG HTML editors. The point is that Wordpress is used by so many websites, both big and small, as a site builder, blogging platform, news platform, and even as a database and shopping platform sometimes, that it's impossible to say how it's supposed to be used.
I think if Wordpress.org makes it clear what are the costs of WP Engine to the project compared to their contributions, it will be easier for people who use Wordpress to understand their side because numbers are neutral.
Patching core WordPress is straightforward, but there's also tens of the thousands of plugins and themes on WordPress.org. Until WP Engine can create a mirror of the plugin and theme repos, there will be security risks.
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https://automattic.com/2024/09/25/open-source-trademarks-wp-...
"Our revenue has been steady but our goal now is to reach profitability at a streamlined cost structure. "