I’m a little disappointed that my favorite open source blogging software is a “platinum sponsor” of this Blog Business Summit. They’re just one step behind Micro$oft who is a “diamond sponsor.”
WordPress is offering $300 off the price of registration for their users, which sounds like a good deal until you find out the whole thing costs $895!
I’m not saying people shouldn’t blog for profit if they want to, I’m just wondering what WordPress is doing hanging out with these corporate-types.
Maybe those WordPress guys want to work on WordPress full time, but still need to put the food on the table. Maybe they think business blogging will lead to more open/honest communications and thus empower individual workers and customers. Maybe they’re joining the system so they can change it from within. Then again, maybe they’re just greedy bastards. But I say: cut ’em some slack, you’re enjoying the “free as in speech” software they provided to you!
If you know any other conferences you think we should be involved in please let me know and I’ll see what we can do.
We’re happy to have Matt on board. As noted in the post about it, many business are using WordPress. And the conference is about all being corporate . . . what blogger doesn’t want to increase business or design a better blog, or listen to Molly talk, or hang with colleagues in the halls.
They’re definitely not greedy bastards, Dave! I just wonder about their choice of investing in this Micro$osft conference as opposed to other things they could support.
For example, Matt, here are a few events where I think a WordPress presence would be helpful to you and to the participants: BlogHer Con, Personal Democracy Forum, National [nonprofit] Technology Conference, Converge.
But it really depends on what the goal is for WordPress, which isn’t clear to me. Matt, can you elaborate on what WP hopes to accomplish through this sponsorship?
As a co-chair of the Blog Business Summit, it’s sure news to me that it’s a “Microsoft Conference”. Do you think that every conference where Microsoft is one of many sponsors is perforce a Microsoft Conference, Ruby? If not, what makes this a Microsoft conference when we’re talking about a technology and how to utilize it for specific business purposes, independent of OS or platform?
I apologize for using shorthand, Dave T. But to be fair, MS isn’t just one of the sponsors, they are aparrently the largest sponsor of the event. I’ve been to another conference where they were a sponsor, and I can’t say they added much.
As I said before: “I’m not saying people shouldn’t blog for profit if they want to, Iām just wondering what WordPress is doing hanging out with these corporate-types.
I didn’t say there was anything wrong with your event, I just questioned the role of WordPress.ORG as a sponsor of it. I can think of good explanations for it, but what I would really like is for Matt or another WP honcho to tell us about what their goal is for this sponsorship.
WordPress is a tool, and as such it can be used for a wide variety of purposes, some of which are quite lucrative while others are just cost centers. Anyone who builds tools recognizes that reality eventually, then thinks about whether the for-profit areas might fund more of the not-for-profit efforts. That could be one reason why Matt and the WordPress team are interested in gaining visibility in the corporate arena. After all, if major corporations were to buy expensive licenses for WordPress, it would help pay for the development costs and make it easier for the main code base to stay open source, right?
I’m not Matt, nor can I represent the views of the WP team, but as someone who has worked in the open source community on and off for over 25 years, I can tell you that charging some clients so you can offer your services for free to others is (or should be) a cornerstone of the community service aspect of open source as a movement. Imo, of course.
I gotta say it’s pretty awesome that Matt Mullenweg left the second comment on your post. That says something to me. Even weirder—I was at his apartment last Saturday night during the WordPress meetup.
Yeah, I was pretty impressed to be visited by Matt. I figured it was because I sent a trackback to the WP blog entry about this. But it’s not showing up there, so I’ve been starting to wonder where all these guys came from! And I’m kind of bummed that Matt hasn’t responded again, since there’s no place else (that I know of) where we can discuss this.
That’s really cool that you got to go to the meetup and meet him in person. Especially since I helped turn you on to WP in the first place. š
The goal has always been to connect WP with the widest audience possible. I’m very passionate about the fact that we have the best software in the world, and it’s Free. Wherever I can I’m going to shout that from the rooftops.
I’m pretty bummed I’m going to be out of town and missing Blogher, but I’ll check out the others you mentioned. Thanks again for the feedback. If we’re not too corporate you should come to the next meetup/party we do. š
Thanks for the reply, Matt. As Justin or anyone from the Chapel Hill Blogger Meetup will tell you, I am a big evangelist for WP and I take credit for many converts as well as brand new bloggers using it.
I would love to come to a WP meetup! When you come to North Carolina, I’ll buy the first round of beers!