The conflict between WordPress and WP Engine has escalated further after the website building platform officially banned the latter from accessing its services.
WordPress co-founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg has criticized the Website hosting company, saying WP Engine “broke thousands of customer sites” in what he called “a haphazard attempt” at retaliation after days of discussions between the two companies.
“What I will tell you is that pending their legal claims and litigation against WordPress.org, WP Engine no longer has free access to WordPress.org resources,” Mullenweg said in a blog post. “Any WP Engine customers experiencing issues with their sites should reach out to WP Engine support and ask them to fix it.”
Risk of complement
The news will be alarming for WP Engine users who frequently use WordPress plugins, as preventing them from accessing the latest versions can leave them exposed to security attacks.
WordPress plugins are a common target for hacker attacks, and several recent attacks have affected millions of users worldwide. Insecure plugins can give hackers full access to vulnerable websites or allow them to install malicious or harmful software without warning.
The news is the latest escalation between the two services, which appear to have experienced a serious disagreement.
In a speech at the recent WordCamp US summit, Mullenweg had initially described WP Engine as a “cancer on WordPress” for exploiting the open source project without providing anything in return.
This was quickly followed by a cease and desist letter to WordPress parent company Automattic, in which WP Engine claimed that Mullenweg’s comments were a failed attempt to force WP Engine to pay millions to license the WordPress trademark. WP Engine’s lawyers also claimed that Mullenweg was looking to launch a “scorched earth nuclear strategy” if the company didn’t pay up.
Mullenweg appeared to address these claims in his blog post, asking: “Why should WordPress.org provide these services to WP Engine for free, given their attacks against us?”
“WP Engine wants to control your WordPress experience, it needs to run its own user login system, update servers, plugin directory, theme directory, pattern directory, block directory, translations, photos directory, job board, meetups, conferences, bug tracker, forums, Slack, Ping-o-matic, and storefront,” he added.
“WP Engine is free to offer its modified and bastardized mocks of the GPLed WordPress code to its customers, and they can experience WordPress as WP Engine envisions it, with them making all the profits and providing all the services.”