WordPress's Automattic openly tracks websites bailing from rival WP Engine
The feud between Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg and rival web hosting firm WP Engine has led Automattic to create a website that lists WordPress customers who have moved their site hosting away from WP Engine and those who haven't.
Mullenweg, co-creator of WordPress, head of commercial WordPress hosting firm Automattic, and a board member of the WordPress Foundation overseeing the open source WordPress software project, in September began disparaging WP Engine for, as the chief exec saw it, refusing to pay tens of millions of dollars annually to use the "WordPress" trademark.
The CEO contends that WP Engine should pay because it fails to adequately contribute back to the WordPress project. And to pressure the company into doing so, Mullenweg supported steps such as blocking WP Engine-hosted websites from connecting to WordPress.org for software updates and forking a WP Engine-maintained plugin.
Hostilities between the two camps led last month to the departure of 159 Automattic staff members and a federal lawsuit from WP Engine alleging attempted extortion, libel, interference with contractual relations, computer fraud and abuse, and unfair competition, among other claims. A hearing on WP Engine's request for a preliminary injunction is scheduled for later this month.
