Response to the Latest WordPress Civil War

Truth be told, this is the first post that has been published in years. Of all the things to talk about, the controversy between Automatic and WP Engine was the least expected.

Then again, it’s 2024.

This Presidential Election year has been unusual, so why not have more strange drama to go along with it?

How We Got Here

Enter the WordPress community. It started with Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress and Automatic CEO, referring to WP Engine as a “cancer to WordPress.” He took exception to them disabling tracking of revisions of every post to save money.

He also accused Silver Lake, a majority owner of WP Engine, of not contributing enough to the WordPress project and confusing people into believing that it is officially part of WordPress.

Ironically, Automatic was a partial owner until 2018 according to David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails and CTO of 37signals. Suffice it to say, Mullenweg did not take too kindly to Hansson’s take on the situation, though he did later edit his post in attempt to tone down the harshness.

Throughout the drama there have been lawsuits filed, and actions taken that have alarmed many.

The Drama

The official page for the Automatic Custom Fields plugin was taken over by Automatic and changed to Secure Custom Fields. WP Engine no longer has access to WordPress.org’s servers, where WordPress plugins are commonly available for installation and updates. Consequently, they have had to create an alternative method to updating the plugins they own.

This isn’t the first public conflict Mullenweg has had with those who used WordPress to make money.

This video goes into more detail on the conflict.

In the end, Mullenweg is attempting to convince WP Engine of paying 8% of its gross revenue to Automatic in order to have a trademark license so they can continue to have WP in their name. Indeed, it did not go over well.

As Steven J Vaughn-Nichols put it,

From where I sit, this is not a battle over open source. It’s a fight between someone worth hundreds of millions and a company worth billions. When you’re trying to figure out what’s going on in any conflict, whether it’s a family fight, a divorce, or a business fight, one of the best rules of thumb is to follow the money. What it’s telling me here is it’s about the cash.

Unfortunately, this battle can potentially affect me and everyone who uses WordPress and WP Express in particular. I didn’t need this. None of us do.

What can we do?

This site uses WordPress and though none of the plugins used are affected as they don’t come from WP Engine, that doesn’t mean they won’t be as some of them come from third parties. Syed Balkhi of WPBeginner has a good answer to that question.

The TL;DR takeaway is don’t panic.

This site has been on hiatus for years as life changes were occurring and different priorities took hold. This type of conflict impacting media creation is nothing new. It’s concerning, but nothing that this site or most content creators have any control over.

The best path forward is to stay the course while looking into alternatives should the need to use a different content management system become necessary.

The good news is that efforts are underway to create another distribution method for WordPress plugins and themes. There is also ClassicPress, a fork of WordPress without the Gutenberg Editor. Alternatives are on the table.

So Don’t Panic

Corporate conflicts with other corporations are nothing new. When Oracle bought out Sun Microsystems, OpenOffice.org was eventually forked into LibreOffice by The Document Foundation. No project truly dies, especially when there are enough willing participants.

Beyond that the best we can hope for is a quick resolution to this conflict, lest Mullenweg digs himself a hole into the realm of major legal hot water.

FYI: Attempting to poach a CEO who happens to be a woman in a way that looks shady does not look good….

Weekly Report: October 17, 2020

Weekly Links

Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report

It’s been a long week, so in the interest of time, I paired this week’s report down to four links. Life has its own way of interfering with progress, but it’s better to give something than nothing at all.

That said, some classic systems were purchased.

One will become a gift and the other will become a regular on the website. With that said, let’s get this done.

Unix

What a big surprise usual announcement of a new iPhone! Apple is known for coming out with new phones on a regular basis. The announcement includes a mini version of said phone.

One the free and open source front, Rescuezilla’s newest release became available. Those familiar with tools like Clonezilla, Ghost, and others have an additional option for cloning hard drives.

Overlooked Pop Culture

There’s a reason some parts of the US have substituted Columbus Day for Indigenous People’s Day. Suffice it to say, I was fortunate to have a teacher in middle school who said that he wasn’t the one who discovered America.

As for the Hunter Biden story, the Verge has an interesting piece on how multiple entities messed up in terms of coverage.

Suffice it to say, Mark Zuckerberg was correct in warning that they can’t act as arbiters of truth. The attempt to stop disinformation was fuzzy and ineffective. People wound up talking about the story anyway.

That’s all for this week, and I will take a break from pushing our Patreon page.

Weekly Report 10/10/2020

Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report

Weekly Links

As opposed to writing something every day I’ll be doing a weekly wrap up every Saturday night. This week’s report comes courtesy of my Librebooted ThinkPad T500. The keyboard is a dream to type on and this system actually has 8 GB of DDR2 memory.

This fine machine can still hold up to this day and is currently running Linux Mint 20.

Each section will follow the flow of the magazine itself. The Unix section covering Unix-like operating systems and related technology will be followed by the Overlooked Pop Culture section, which covers a variety of popular things that are often overlooked, misunderstood, or both.

Unix

Even though Apple’s OS X is based on BSD, it still has security vulnerabilities. It turns out the T2 Chip is vulnerable to exploits that would let someone take control of a user’s Mac. This would require physical access to a Mac, so it won’t impact most users.

Maybe Louis Rossman can utilize this exploit for data recovery purposes.

Even with newer hardware, Apple will likely face skepticism regarding its branded silicone, Apple Silicone. At least they still have a foothold in the mobile arena. Their next iPhone is expected to be announced this Tuesday.

In Linux news, Sparky Linux 4.13 was recently released. Based on Debian, they updated the “stable” package repositories, the kernel, Firefox ESR, and more. Speaking of cool Linux news, System76 recently interviewed two individuals from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) about the use of a Lemur Pro for archiving satellite imagery for NASA.

In cloud computing news, Nextcloud’s capabilities are increasing as well. Not only can you collaborate with their tools, you can integrate Microsoft Teams, Slack, Github, and more. It’s a good thing that software is updated from time to time, because legacy software has its limits, which can become dangerous depending on the situation.

The legacy version of Excel has a limit of 65,000 rows, which caused the loss of information pertaining to nearly 16,000 positive COVID-19 tests in the UK.

Overlooked Pop Culture

Pro Wrestling fans may be excited about Halloween Havoc making a comeback this year. The classic WCW Pay Per View event is being adopted by NXT. It has been years since the Halloween themed event has aired, so having spookiness galore may ignite fan enthusiasm.

It isn’t all pumpkins and candy corn.

What may also be scary, albeit to Vince McMahon, is this piece from What Culture about Paige learning about Unionism. This comes in the wake of WWE wanting to take more control over performers’ use of social media platforms, even though said performers are “independent contractors.”

Though the WWE has become creative in offering a form of entertainment to the world in the midst of COVID-19, they aren’t the only option.

The Anime News Network has their Fall 2020 Preview Guide, so anime fans who want more than people in spandex in a squared circle wearing night goggles may be happy. Video games, whether it’s on a console or PC, are among a plethora of entertainment options as well.

Those who prefer building their own gaming PC may want to take note of Patrick Lathan’s article reviewing the Lian Li Lancool 215 Airflow Case. As for console gamers, William D’Angelo of VGChartz has an interesting piece regarding the Xbox Series X and PS5.

On a mental health note, it’s important to understand one thing: Even if one is “being edgy,” it’s never a good idea to show up at someone’s house uninvited and unwelcome.

In conspiracy theory news, QAnon, a joke on 4Chan that got way out of hand, has now caused Facebook to change their policies regarding groups mentioning theories peddled by the fake entity.

The removal of said groups will impact the spreading of certain theories.

John McAfee has been arrested in Spain and faces extradition to the US over tax evasion. Topping off the craziness is the story of a group who got caught attempting to place under citizens’ arrest kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes; that’s all for this week.

While you’re here, would you be willing to become one of our Patrons on Patreon? Doing so will get you access to the magazine for much cheaper than purchasing from the website while allowing us to grow. With enough resources, we’ll be able to have more content available throughout the week. Thank you so much in advance for your time.

Distrowatch Weekly for the Win

Preview of Distrowatch Weekly reviewing LinuxFX.
Distrowatch’s Jesse Smith recently reviewed LinuxFX, otherwise known as WindowsFX

Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report

This week’s Distrowatch Weekly is now available, and it highlights some new OS releases that use a Linux, *BSD, or POSIX-compliant kernel at its core. They’re a great resource for Linux/BSD-related news.

In this week’s issue, they talk about:

  • LinuxFX, a.k.a. WindowsFX.
  • The Ars article talking about Lenovo going all in by offering Ubuntu-based systems.
  • openSuSE’s Jump Edition
  • The Haiku project contest
  • …and more!

To cap off Monday night, WWE fans will get to witness the aftermath of Roman Reins retaining the Universal Championship. He’s building himself as an effective heel by torturing members of his own family.

Only time will tell if Paul Heyman’s presence will enhance Reins in the future.

RIP Road Warrior Animal

Road Warrior Animal
He was a tag team legend.

Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report

This week, I learned of the passing of Road Warrior Animal, one half of the legendary tag team known as LOD (Legion of Doom). As 2020 continues towards its conclusion, I fear we will continue to see legends from a variety of industries close the book on their lives due to age, illness, and more.

It hasn’t been an easy year, but thr best way to address his passing is to remember the amazing career he had in the squarred circle.

He held numerous titles alongside his partner Hawk and they wreaked havok wherever they went. The simple mentality of tough powerful people who don’t go without a fight was the hallmark of LOD.

So here’s to Animal, one who was tough enough to not take anyone’s shit while being spiritual at the same time.

Pumpkin Spice

Pumpkin Spice Spam! 'nuff said!
Your argument is invalid!

Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report

It’s fall, and October is just around the corner. For that reason, I’m sharing my favorite thing from the pumpkin spice memes. Spam!

Yes, it was a thing.

Searching E-Bay listings will reveal that a single can cost at least $20 USD or more, give or take a few. So, the next time someone wants to argue with me about something ridiculous, showing it off will be how I end the “debate” for the last time!

While You’re Here

Would you be willing to become one of our patrons on Patreon? We would like to do so much more with the website and magazine full time. Thank you for your consideration.

ChromeOS Ryzen Above DoD

Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report

Image of an HP Chromebook with the Ryzen graphic over the top of it to illustrate how epic it would be.
A Chromebook with Ryzen?! Yeah!!!!!

It’s hump day, and what better way to start than with a Chromebook with an AMD Ryzen processor with integrated graphics! Michael Crider of Review Geek breaks the interesting news of HP releasing an enterprise-grade device with AMD’s hardware inside.

Android apps can run in ChromeOS, so having a more powerful APU (CPU with GPU integrated) makes sense.

HP has a page where those interested may sign up to be notified when the Pro c645 Chromebook Enterprise becomes available. It seems Ryzen has been living up to its name and rising above more than the competition.

The other entity that has risen above things of sorts is the Department of Defense, if by things we mean ethics….

It turns out that money from the CARES Act meant for COVID-19 related supplies, like masks and swabs, was redirected towards things like jet engine parts, body armor, and stuff that had nothing to do with COVID-19. Oops!

Some of the companies that received funding from the DoD provided by the CARES Act also benefited from the PPP (Paycheck Protection Program).

This shouldn’t come as a surprise since Economic Impact Payments from that law wound up in foreign countries, much to the confusion of those countries’ residents.

Extra Bonus for Today

I’ve written about Jeremy Hambly before. He was the one who revealed some issues in The Magic the Gathering community. He may have to wind up in court over a copyright claim on YouTube, which he argues that an image used was fair use.

It’s important to note that Hambly requested that his audience not contact the individual in question. I’ll keep an eye on this and will update everyone as things progress.

While You’re Here

The goal is to provide an entertaining media outlet that provides value. This means not relying on corporate sponsors or just “pushing products we believe in.” By becoming a patron on Patreon, you’ll have access to our digital magazine for cheaper than individual issues.

That’s nearly $50 a year in savings alone.

If you want us to be able to expand and do this full time, you can help us by signing up here.

Ubuntu Touch is No TikTok Crock

Ubuntu Touch logo.
Ubuntu Touch hasn’t gone away. It’s now an independent project via UBports.

Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report

Full Disclosure: Thomas owns a fraction of a share of Microsoft via SoFI Invest. He was also a Walmart Associate until December of 2016.

In the past, Ubuntu’s Unity Desktop was designed to work on mobile devices and desktop computers. When Canonical changed plans and moved back to GNOME 3 as their desktop environment of choice, the mobile variant all but disappeared.

Thanks to UBports, however, Ubuntu Touch is still being developed and works on several mobile devices.

Their newest release includes but is not limited to:

  • QtWebEngine 5.14: Now allows more flexible text selection and opening of multiple file types (PDF, MP3, images, text).
  • Icon-based System Settings Menu.
  • Newer backend components that will allow Ubuntu Touch to be based on Ubuntu 20.04.
  • Revamps of Messages, Dialer, and Contacts
  • Better compatibility with IPv6.

Their official release announcement can be read here.

It’s nice to be able to have progress without dealing with political theater, which TikTok has fallen victim to, according to media mogul Barry Diller.

“It has now morphed into a ludicrous game-match between tossing ownership here, control there. … Its original aims are out the window. It has just come a whole political mismash.”

–Barry Diller on CNBC’s Squawk Box

Microsoft was initially going to attempt a deal with ByteDance until China placed more export restrictions on computer-based algorithms. Now it’s Oracle and Walmart. World politics will continue to impact e-commerce in 2020, especially in the age of COVID-19.

Can You Do Us a Favor?

Patreon button.

We are on a mission to make media better by being more entertaining while at the same time educating and empowering the public on a variety of topics. Besides downloading the first issue of the magazine and giving it away to all your friends and family, would you be willing to become one of our patrons on Patreon?

This will help us pay for web hosting expenses, software licenses, better equipment, and eventually allow us to do this full time. Future issues of the magazine will cost $5 USD each, but just $1 USD will allow you to have an issue for $4 USD less.

That’s a savings of $48 USD a year.

Our tiers cost so little because we believe in earning your trust while providing good value.

Volume 3, Issue 1 Now Available

Cover Issue of the 1st Issue.
Conspiracy theories, a first glance at Linux Mint 20, and Pro Wrestling in the COVID-19 era.

Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report

The first issue of volume 3 of the magazine is now available free of charge. In this issue, the following topics are covered.

  • Why conspiracy theories go viral.
  • A first look at Linux Mint 20, an operating system that’s an alternative to OS X and Windows
  • Pro Wrestling in the age of COVID-19 by Stephen Kelley.

In the future, we’ll sell individual issues for $5 USD. If you become a patron on Patreon, it’s only $1 USD.

You can also get a free copy if you write for us and get published. With this issue and others in the future, please give away copies for free. Whether you share the file through torrenting or cloud storage links or print it, the more people read it, the better.

For those who want to print, bear in mind that the color scheme is RGB as opposed to CMYK, so inkjet and laser printers instead of commercial printers used for newspapers and traditional magazines.

19 Years Ago

Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report

Based on work by Michael Foran / CC BY

I was in high school walking back to class from a restroom break when I heard the news of the twin towers being struck. The day went from being normal to surreal in a matter of moments.

Learning the rest of the day was going to be out of the question.

At one of the computer classes I was in at a vocational school that was partnered with my high school, we watched the news. We were in awe and terrified as the twin towers came down.

I was emotionally numb about the event for several days.

When the numbness began to wear off, I became uneasy as the Patriot Act was passed into law. The next thing I knew, talks of Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction entered the news cycle.

The former Iraqi President was dealt with more swiftly, even though he had nothing to do with 9/11, than Osama bin Laden.

Today is a reminder of the thing that we have forgotten.

We must not let fear prevent ourselves from speaking up. Traditional media has had too many failures in the past, which is why there is so much distrust now. Crying wolf one time too many has its price.

Due to circumstances in my life and too much negativity, I stepped away from this project as the motivation was just not there.

I’ve concluded that the time has come to bring back The *Nixed Report.

There will be plenty of discussion of things that are not always for the faint of heart. At the same time, I’ve learned that a hard price is paid for taking things too seriously. When people say they get four hours of sleep a night or less as they grow less and less sane, it should be obvious that they are about to crack.

While not everything in life is a joke, being able to laugh is important; even if it’s at ourselves occasionally.

The magazine will be returning next week and will be on sale. The first issue will be free for everyone, and copying will be encouraged. I want the word to get out.

The idea will be to sell copies as well.

They can either be purchased off the website directly or through various crowdfunding platforms such as Patreon. Since choice is important when it comes to media consumption, multiple platforms will be available as well.

Publishing again for the sake of it isn’t a part of the mission statement.

The website, the magazine, and other media published will also serve as teaching tools as well so that others who want to know how to build an independent media venue will have a place to start. A store front with tools, supplies, and learning materials will also be provided as well in the future to help fund this project and help others learn about media creation.

Finally, having fun will be of the utmost importance.

If I don’t enjoy doing this, then there won’t be any point to it. I’m looking forward to rebuilding this brand into something better. Stay tuned.

P.S. Fuck Paul Isaac Jr.