I just came across this fantastic comment to Theo’s latest video on the WordPress drama:
I totally agree. It seems to be time to reconsider the risks associated with relying on open source projects that are heavily influenced by one individual. As we’ve seen in this case, a project can shift from being considered stable and trustworthy to something that raises serious concerns in just a few days. All just because a single person makes a series of very stupid decisions and apparently doesn’t listen to the warnings of other people.
Yes, the current drama is special, and the risk profile of relying on WordPress doesn’t change for most people, but the public nature of this situation highlights the risks associated with indirectly (through the project) relying on a single person, a single point of failure. This will change the future perception of those risks and will lead to others in the industry to adjust their selection criteria for open source projects to better reflect the risk.
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