Today I'm talking to you again of the earthquake that still shakes the planet WordPress. Automaticthe behemoth behind WordPress.com, has just announced that it is immediately and drastically reducing its contributions to the free WordPress project. Of course, this is news that had the effect of a bomb in the CMS ecosystem, which is, I remind you, the most used in the world.

In fact, for almost 20 years, Automatic is the main contributor to WordPress, injecting time, resources and talent to evolve this platform which is used on more than 40% of websites today. And there, PAF! The company decides to slow down significantly.

The official reason?

Of the legal tensions with WP Engine, a renowned WordPress host, supported by the Silver Lake investment fund. But I think that all this is a pretext for Automattic to publicly criticize the “bad” WP Engine, and that it's a little more complicated than that.

I find that first of all there is a glaring imbalance between what Automattic has produced so far for WordPress free software compared to WP Engine. To simplify, Automattic creates WordPress, WP Engine operates it (they have the right of course but they still contribute a lot less).

This decision by Automattic therefore looks more like a show of force than a simple reaction to the legal proceedings. It’s as if Automattic was saying to WP Engine and other players in the ecosystem: “Do you see? You are nothing without us.”

Afterwards this is only my opinion, but this strategy also aims to sanction a librist community which has not fully supported Automattic, particularly in the face of criticism and personal attacks targeting some of its members. Another way of saying: “Did you want less Automattic? Well, now let's see how you do.”

Concretely, Automattic will therefore reduce its sponsored contributions to approximately 45 hours per week and redirect its resources towards its commercial projects (WordPress.com, Pressable, WPVIP, Jetpack and WooCommerce)

It is therefore a major change which notably includes the rapprochement of WordPress.com with the WordPress core experience and I find that this situation, even if it must start from misplaced egos, is an excellent warning to companies which commercially exploit free software such as WP Engine. If this is your case, I strongly recommend that you respect these 2 precepts:

  1. Contributing is crucial : Companies that profit from an open source project must be prepared to contribute as much, if not more, than the original project sponsor. An imbalance in contributions can quickly destabilize an entire ecosystem.
  2. Prepare a plan B : It is essential to be ready to fork the project at any time so as not to put your activity at risk.

There you go… this decision by Automattic perhaps marks the start of a new era for WordPress. In any case, it reminds us that the open source model, despite its many advantages, remains fragile and dependent on the balance between its different actors.

It is therefore up to all of us, users and players in the ecosystem, to learn lessons from this situation to build a more balanced and sustainable future for all these free projects that “propel” the web.

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