WordPress Fighting: Automattic v. WP Engine and their ACF plugin
Yes, you were not mistaken. Automattic, WordPress.com, forced a paid ACF (Advanced Custom Fields) Plugin from WP Engine and started distributing it for free. This has caused numerous disputes in the WordPress community, as many believe that such a step can undermine the Ecosystem of Plugins and WordPress topics.
ACF is a popular WordPress plugin that is used by website developers to create specialized fields used by WordPress authors and publishers.
Yes, ACF allows developers to control the editing process more deeply by adding, for example, forms to create structured data specific to individual types of WordPress pages. Articles can use these fields to introduce their name, a quote or other metadata. 🚀
- 📌 It is important to note that ACF was developed by Delicious Brains, which was acquired in 2022 by WP Engine. The latter has taken responsibility for the development and updating of free and premium versions of the plugin.
ACF has become popular with the use of the FREEMium business model in WordPress ecosystem. Plagins and topics develop a free version of their software, and premium versions provide additional functionality. This helps to increase the popularity and trust in the plugin or the topic among users. 🚀
Q: What is "Forming" in the context of WordPress plugins and topics?
A: "Formation" refers to the creation of an independent version of the existing plugin or the theme of WordPress using the original code of the original version to create another version.
Q: Why did Automattic decide to create an ACF fork?
A: On October 12, 2024, Automattic created a Fork ACF WP Engine plugin by renaming it to Secure Custom Forms (SCF) and replacing the original ACF plugin in the official WordPress plugin platform with its Fork using the same URL.
Q: Is it legitimate to distribute premium version of the plugin for free?
A: Whether this is legal will decide the courts. However, it should be noted that it affects competitors, such as Meta Box Pro, which offer similar functionality, such as ACF. Current Meta Box Pro users can be stimulated to not continue their current license, as they can now get similar premium functions for free from WordPress.org.
The response of the Facebook Group manager to this incident was moving, stating that he considers MullenWeg an unreliable supporter of the ACF Fork and does not trust his Fork, ACF, on any of the websites he develops.
Статтю згенеровано з використанням ШІ на основі зазначеного матеріалу, відредаговано та перевірено автором вручну для точності та корисності.
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/automattic-receives-backlash-for-cloning-premium-plugin/533589/
