43.5% of websites could be at risk

Here's what you need to know about Wordpress, Automattic, and WP Engine battle

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Amber Rhodes & Dillon Young
September 27, 2024 • Est. Reading Time: 6 minutes

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TL;DR

  • There’s some major drama between WordPress and WP Engine right now—find out why it matters

  • No, you don’t have to re-share that viral Instagram story post

  • Printers + AI = the upgrade(??) no one asked for, ever

Let's talk shop 🔧

What’s got WordPress so pressed?

Love it or hate it, much of the tech world runs on WordPress. And things are getting pret-ty hairy between WordPress and WP Engine...which could impact 4 out of 10 websites worldwide. Here’s what you need to know 👇️ 

First, what’s the difference between WordPress and WP Engine?

  • WordPress is a free, open-source content management system that’s super popular for creating blogs and websites.

  • WP Engine is a website hosting platform for sites built on WordPress.

And why are they beefing?

It seems to have started with a blog post published last week by WordPress/Automattic Founder and CEO, Matt Mullenweg, asserting that WordPress and WP Engine are not the same company, or even officially associated. He claims that WP Engine is profiting off of consumer confusion and, well, that the product kinda sucks.

Actually, the exact words he used were “a cancer to WordPress.” 😬 

Well, this pissed off the folks at WP Engine enough to send a cease-and-desist letter to Automattic telling them to keep WP Engine’s name out of their mouths.

So Automattic did the only logical next step—they sent their own cease-and-desist letter accusing WP Engine of trademark infringement.

And then Mullenweg released a blog titled “WP Engine is banned from WordPress.org.” Now WP Engine users can’t update plug-ins or themes, and are more susceptible to security risks.

Why does this matter?

  • A lot of sites are disrupted by this feud. According to W3Techs, 43.5% of websites use WordPress.

  • WordPress users also haven’t been thrilled by these developments, and some even fear that a crackdown on WordPress trademark licensing could negatively impact them in the future.

Have you been affected by this feud? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

🖥️ What else is happening in tech?

  • Did you ask for this? I didn’t ask for this. HP announces its AI beta for printers. It’s unclear if this will make it easier or harder for printers to smell our desperation.

  • Another one bites the dust. Dell announced that its global sales team employees will be required to work from the office five days a week starting Sept. 30. (You mean MONDAY?!)

  • A new report from Bain puts Customer Success under the microscope…and the results don’t look good.

Coming soon…

The Customer Success Hotline

Arriving in October 2024, a new podcast featuring the duo you didn’t know you needed: industry luminary Kristi Faltorusso and one-of-one personality Stijn “Stino” Smet.

Check out the trailer & get the deets →

Let’s dish 🤭

this is legally binding, right?

This ONE copypasta post will protect your data from Big, Bad Meta AI

Just kidding.

Three things are certain in life: death, taxes, and copy/pasted hoaxes going viral on Facebook.

The newest hoax? “Goodbye Meta AI,” a note you can supposedly post to your account to prevent Meta from using your data to train its AI models.

To be crystal clear, sharing the “Goodbye Meta AI” statement does nothing to protect your user data from being used in its AI training. But if you’re in Europe, you do have the option to opt-out via your account settings.

Honestly, it’s no surprise so many people fell for this hoax. With so much of our personal data up for grabs, who wouldn’t want an easy fix to get a little privacy back?

And if you were one of the many, many people who reposted this note, know that you were in good company. James McAvoy and Tom Brady reportedly did, too!

🫖 What's the tea?

  • Apparently mosquitoes are thriving as climates get warmer. At least someone’s having a good year.

  • This is the Pitts…Brad Pitt imposters were arrested in Spain this week after scamming two women out of $350k.

  • That cool AF Olympic shooter & silver medalist, Kim Yeji, got an acting role as an assassin.

Is referring too much hassle (aka your friends aren’t cool)? Skip the work and find all these 👆and more in our shop. Get 10% off with code: SEGMENT10