He's now actively hostile to the principles of open source.
replies(1):
Reason (2) is that he didn’t “fork” the code to create a new plugin as is customary. He took over the existing listing (and its install base of several million), renamed it, and then forced his version into everyone’s sites.
So despite having installed “Advanced Custom Fields” by WPEngine people woke up to their sites running “Secure Custom Fields” by Automattic.
If that happened via NPM or any other package manager there would be outrage. It’s a supply chain attack, plain and simple.
Reason (3) is that he then took the paid version of that same plugin and released it for free, despite having official documented rules that he himself wrote against such a practice. Nulled plugins (as the community calls them) are explicitly not allowed in the repository.
In summary, this wasn’t a fork as we all understand it. This was a hostile take over of an existing install base without consent and contrary to the rules he, himself created for the plugin repository.
Oh, and one more thing. Automattic is currently suing someone for doing exactly what he did (redistributing paid plugins). In that case, his lawyers flat out lied to the Dutch court and claimed that the GPL doesn’t allow others to re-sell GPL code. He got caught and the judge was NOT impressed.
Imagine calling “open source” your religion but then lying to a judge about what that actually means.
The man is a greedy, egotistical, tyrant.
To be clear: I’m no fan of what these guys are doing and I think they’ll probably be liable for TM infringement (but maybe not copyright infringement).
All that aside, Automattic lying about what the GPL means in a court of law is truly disgusting. Especially since Matt loves to talk about the freedoms afforded by the GPL and how he is its biggest champion.
The questions around reselling GPL code are well settled (anyone can sell GPL code). One just needs to read their FAQ to see that what Automattic’s lawyers argued in court is total bullshit.