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by arp242 630 days ago
Matt's message reads:

> They had the option to license the WordPress trademark for 8% of their revenue, which could be delivered either as payments, people (Five for the Future .org commitments), or any combination of the above.

So they could have "paid" by just hiring a few WordPress devs to work on it. That is: not necessarily by transferring dollars to Automattic.

IMHO this is an important bit of nuance missing in this thread.
1 comments
mthoms 630 days ago
Right. But who gatekeeps the project focus, direction and spending? Automattic does.

This would be a different conversation if there was an independent and accountable foundation driving things.

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arp242 630 days ago
They do the majority of the work, so they get to decide. That's how it works everywhere. If WP Engine wants to decide they should invest the same 4,000 hours/week.
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mthoms 629 days ago
That's the problem though. It's a chicken and egg issue. Those donated hours could be directed towards things that aren't in WPEngines interest. To use an analogy: it's taxation without representation. That seems counter to the open source ethos.

If everything was handled by an independent, transparent and accountable foundation then this would be a different conversation. It isn't. It's handled by a private, for profit, vc-backed company with a leader known for personal vendettas and holding grudges.

I want to be clear: I have no love for WPE and agree they should be doing way more. I'm just pointing out that the current arrangement is not exactly conducive to facilitating that.

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arp242 625 days ago
> Those donated hours could be directed towards things that aren't in WPEngines interest

I have a hard time seeing how that can happen. WP-Engine still decides what bits of WordPress they work on – it's just a matter of having developers who work on it.

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