Mullenweg's war with WPEngine

[ergophobe]

I don't think we've even mentioned Matt Mullenweg's ongoing wars with whomever he is currently at war with. As of this writing and for quite some time now, WPEngine.

For background, he has been at war with others for what many agreed were actual violations of the GPL under which WordPress is distributed. But this is different: he thinks they are freeriders who don't give enough back to the WP project.

Ryan Szrama, influential contributor to Drupal and (former?) member of the Drupal board argues that is a fundamental misunderstanding of the ethos of the free software movement.

There are also trademark issues - WPEngine clearly uses the WP trademark in commerce.

Mullenweg declared "for example with WPE . . . f that doesn't resolve well it'll look like all-out nuclear war[.]"

just days after WPE brought this lawsuit, Mullenweg emailed a Stripe senior executive, insisting that Stripe "cancel any contracts or partnerships with WP Engine," and threatening, "f you chose not to do so, we should exit our contracts."

Matt always positions himself as just an open-source advocate who is abiding by the GPL.
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/wp-engine-complaint-adds-unredacted-allegations-about-mullenweg-plan/567241/

Ryan Szrama's perspective
https://ryanszrama.com/blog/04-09-2025/moral-imperative-compensate-free-software-authors