Comments on: Are Wordpress Themes GPL? Matt Mullenweg Say It’s So…

By: Mark Lyons

Mark Lyons — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:13:01 +0000

I believe most people who choose the GPL well know what that choice entails. It’s their choice, just like it’s my choice to keep most of my code closed. I don’t mind their choice, and I’ll simply avoid using their code. I’m not sure it warrants much discussion since people who go with the GPL are often motivated by ethical arguments, and you can’t really argue with that.

By: John Baldwin

John Baldwin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:14:17 +0000

I don’t feel “free” when dealing with GPL software. I feel constrained and like I’m walking on eggshells. As a programmer, I find that GPL is a little scary. I don’t even want to look at a lot of GPL code for fear a technique found its way into my own code.

The subtleties of how the license applies, as you outline well, keep me from using GPL software when working for companies, etc., that don’t want their work to be under GPL. It’s too “dangerous.”

By: Kirstin

Kirstin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:15:45 +0000

Bravo for Wordpress for keepinf free software free.

By: Harry S

Harry S — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:45:11 +0000

When i use the GPL software i dont think much more about the security privacy & THAT IS THE MY STYLE OF USING THE SOFTWARE OF THE GPL!

By: Adam Alfia

Adam Alfia — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:07:14 +0000

Odd situation - the platform itself is open source, but the visual representations may not be. I can see the GPL rules extending to this since a theme is a creative representation, while Wordpress itself is just the toolset/means to create that representation (kind of like an artist and a painting - the brushes, paints, and tools are separate from the creative expression itself).

By: Tam Hanna

Tam Hanna — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:27:25 +0000

Hi,
I have to openly admit that I do not agree with this decision one bit. It is just idiotic, and kills the entire commercial theme market.

From now on, the only way to get a premium theme is to buy the total rights to it - as the GPL IMHO grants you the right to do WTF you please with it. This means that the designer must assume one sale, and done…

But: I have to admit that I am generally VERY angry and unhappy with the direction Wordpress has taken recently. WP 2.8 completely f%%ed up my theme on my sites….something which never happened before.

It went downwards before with their idiotic AJAX interface - while it looks nice, it has caused nothing but eekers for me (mobile browsers, anyone?).

I think that we are all here for business - and for this, we need accountability. WordPress IMHO no longer gives that!

All the best
Tam Hanna
(once happy WP user with 7 sites - will switch soon)

P.S. I have subscribed here. If anyone of you knows about a _COMMERCIAL_ (aka an entity I can sue) CMS which is good and costs reasonable, let me know!

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:29:21 +0000

@Adam + @Tam - I hear what you’re saying. As somebody who has played guitar professionally for years, it would be like Gibson or Fender saying they have copyright over my music because I used their instrument to create it.

What strikes me as odd is that GPL originally comes from the Linux/Unix community. Companies like Red Hat have created commercial versions of Linux and distributed them for years. It’s not like theme designers are trying to market a commercial version of Wordpress. They’re extending, or as Adam said, using a tool kit to create.

Like Tan, I have also become very frustrated with the newer versions of Wordpress. Since WP 2.1, the designers have totally made the dashboard less useful and the software has become bloated with unnecessary features.

An old saying comes to mind, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”

By: Tam Hanna

Tam Hanna — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:29:37 +0000

Hi Dave,
-
@Adam + @Tam - I hear what you’re saying. As somebody who has played guitar professionally for years, it would be like Gibson or Fender saying they have copyright over my music because I used their instrument to create it.
-

Its much worse. Imagine Gibson declaring that you can no longer strum the guitar but must spin it to produce tunes…ah, and you need to buy new speakers, plectrums and so on.

I am a person who lives by no change. WordPress forces me to change ALL THE F**EN time - thereby wasting my time. I am a darn blogger, not a theme designer or system maintainer or whatever.

When updating WP, I don’t want to have to update my theme because some stupid API call was changed and now produces weird output like this one:
-

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My job is to BLOG. Not to f%%% fix WordPress…

All the best
Tam Hanna

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:52:26 +0000

I believe the themes and plugins should be licensed completely separate from the framework itself allowing developers to license their work anyway they choose.

By: Rocky

Rocky — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 06:21:59 +0000

having the GPL is just like you are having a friend which can make your work ease !it is really a great tool!