Microsoft to acquire WordPress?

[SiberianHuskey]

Could it be that Microsoft will acquire WordPress?

I have to agree with the first comment on the page.

I don't like this. The big company are slowly acquiring all the good free stuffs then we will be left with nothing.

And to that I say that is how the government is gaining control over the Internet.

I watched a show on this recently, and one of the speakers on the show mentioned that back when radio was new, no one said it would be controlled.

[felgall]

One thing to remember is that only any new code that Microsoft add could be subject to a different licence than the current open source one. To keep WordPress open source all that would be needed is for everyone to ignore any Microsoft versions and continue with open source upgrades based on the current version.

[ralph.m]

Gosh, I hope it's not true. I'd hate to see WordPress change its motto from "Code is Poetry" to "Code is Doggerel".

[logic_earth]

Gosh, I hope it's not true. I'd hate to see WordPress change its motto from "Code is Poetry" to "Code is Doggerel".

Some how I don't think that is Wordpress's motto. If it is they are not talking about there own code.

[ralph.m]

Some how I don't think that is Wordpress's motto. If it is they are not talking about there own code.

They do use it a lot around the place. (See in their footer here.) Anyway, I was just being overly cheeky—and probably unfair.

[theentry]

Hm Microsoft is only migrating WP as their blogging platform, or not?

[logic_earth]

Hm Microsoft is only migrating WP as their blogging platform, or not?

That is correct, Microsoft is closing down Windows Live Spaces and setting up a deal with Wordpress for those who want to continue to blog to migrate there data over to Wordpress.com (their blogging platform).

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_l...customers.aspx

[theentry]

Exactly, so they aren't acquiring WP

[SiberianHuskey]

I wouldn't be too sure, a migrate could turn into a acquire.

[theentry]

I hope not, would hate to see WP under MS

[logic_earth]

Microsoft could not acquire Wordpress, everything relating to Wordpress has been transferred over to the Wordpress Foundation. If Microsoft was to acquire anything it would be Automattic which is the company that originally built Wordpress. However, Automattic no longer has rights to Wordpress.

So everyone is in a uproar over nothing.

[RetroNetro]

http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/30/lea...paces-numbers/

[ContentForYou]

This would be great for all wordpress users. I hope they do it. Go Microsoft ftw.

[SiberianHuskey]

Microsoft sales of Windows7 has been quite low, the facts are that Windows XP continues to dominate.

Microsoft Office has appeared to replace Windows in Microsoft Camp as it sold the most, and probably most people feel more comfortable knowing that they can bring the software home install it on XP and there good to go, rather then having to re-install everything I think that Windows8 will show more smarter options but that is probably 3-4 years away or longer and with GoogleOS around the corner, Microsoft has almost backed them-self in a corner.

[zipperz]

""Most importantly, the founding developer of WordPress and founder of Automattic, Matt Mullenweg, said that he has given up the trademark of WordPress and donated it to the WordPress foundation which will “safeguard” the trademark. On his blog, Mullenweg wrote that “Automattic might not always be under my influence, so from the beginning I envisioned a structure where for-profit, non-profit, and not-just-for-profit could coexist and balance each other out. It’s important for me to know that WordPress will be protected and that the brand will continue to be a beacon of open source freedom regardless of whether any company is as benevolent as Automattic has been thus far.”"LINK
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hmmm..? So he wants to sell pieces of it ? Sounds like some kind of deal going down.

"envisioned a structure where for-profit, non-profit, and not-just-for-profit could coexist and balance each other out"

Pipe Dream ? or an excuse and reasoning to take some Microsoft money ?

One thing that might be very bad for Wordpress is if Microsoft gets their claws into it a nonprofit opensorce community probably won't have the $$ to go through legal fights.

[Rancid]

Microsoft is trying to stay on top and compete with Google.
G owns Blogger, its only natural that Microsoft turns his interest yo Wordpress.

[webcosmo]

if that ever happens, i am sure WP would worth billion or more.
i hope that doesnt happen.

[crazypenguin]

Two issues make no sense to me why Microsoft would want to acquire Automattic / WordPress.

1) WordPress runs predominantly on LAMP servers. I just can't vision Microsoft owning anything which directly or indirectly promotes Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP.

2) WordPress is licensed under GNU GPL. If Microsoft were to acquire Automattic / WordPress and decided to switch to a proprietary license, I believe a fork would occur and the software would live on under a new name.

Thanks SiberianHuskey for an interesting read.