The best scenario for all parties is to burry the hatch and for Matt to step down.
What the hell are you on about? Wordpress is GPL. Are all Linux distro profiting off Linus’ brand?
There is a very simple thing you can do if you don’t want people to do this: use a different license. You cannot eat your cake and keep having it.
> Maintaining a fork and building a new brand will be expensive.
Publishing free software is a decision. You cannot come years later to say “no, actually you need to pay”, or “yeah, it’s free but not like that”.
The whole “WPE does not contribute” point is completely disingenuous and I cannot believe that people are still uttering it in good faith.
> The best scenario for all parties is to burry the hatch and for Matt to step down.
The best scenario is Wordpress going up in flames, Matt being utterly ridiculed for his dishonest behaviour and the whole thing serving as a cautionary tale.
Those aren't forks. Full forking the Linux kernel and rebranding it would be hard for the same reasons as forking and rebranding Wordpress.
> Publishing free software is a decision. You cannot come years later to say “no, actually you need to pay”, or “yeah, it’s free but not like that”.
That's not my point. My point is: if they want to fork it, it will be expensive.
> The best scenario is Wordpress going up in flames, Matt being utterly ridiculed for his dishonest behaviour and the whole thing serving as a cautionary tale.
Why would that be better?
I specifically said it would not be easy. But as the difficulty factors go, WPEngine is in the best position to pull it off. They have an existing customer base, probably many of whom are concerned that their websites may be "updated" in undesirable ways. And for those unaware, the magical appearance of SCF in their install(s) will let them know. Beyond the pale IMO, messing with my website in a surprise way like that... Giving these folks a clean off-ramp is a no brainer, and they may well be able to charge extra for the peace of mind.
It's an easy idea to test. Do you actually work at a startup?
And you are overplaying the branding thing a bit IMO. I sit down the hall from a team of five guys that crank out a new brand in about 2-3 days. All the time. And their work is pretty damn good. And I mean all of it, graphics, brand names, websites and product renders. Videos do take longer.