Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
1
There is a plethora of blogs, podcasts, and, of course, topics focused on WordPress in all its ver-
sions. WordCamps are more or less impromptu gatherings, with WordPress bloggers gathering in
one city or another, usually on a Saturday, to meet one another and discuss issues.
WordPress users contribute a great deal to the software. Most WordPress support resources are cre-
ated and maintained on a voluntary basis by people sharing solutions to problems they themselves
encounter in trying to use the software. For WordPress.com users, resources offered as part of the
software, such as themes and widgets, are contributed by developers who might not be profession-
als at all, just generous enthusiasts.
Support and shared resources are most extensive for the WordPress software available from
Wordpress.org. WordPress.org is not a version of WordPress, as many people seem to think; it's the
nonprofit community that provides the great bulk of support for WordPress software. However,
bowing to widespread usage, we refer to using the WordPress software directly as “using
WordPress.org” at some points in this topic.
Part of the strength of WordPress comes from its status as open source software. Any user of
WordPress software can change it. Just as important, due to the strength of the WordPress commu-
nity, any user of the WordPress software can describe a change they need made—and, very often
indeed, some other WordPress user will make the change for them.
The change can then get picked up and used by dozens, hundreds, or thousands of WordPress
software users. Eventually, the best changes are rolled into the WordPress core—the version of
WordPress software Automattic releases to a waiting world. Each new release is the base for
further innovations.
As you'll see in this topic, the WordPress resources you can get for free are tremendous. In fact, one
of the things you might end up paying for if you take your WordPress blogging further is an expert
to help you weigh the plusses and minuses of the free resources so you can choose which ones
to use!
What Does It Cost You?
Automattic is focused only on WordPress. Automattic, though, is much like its wider-ranging
cousin, Google, in an interesting way: Both companies have found a way to provide a hugely popu-
lar set of services while exercising a very light touch on customers' experiences and wallets.
WordPress was introduced in 2003—a surprisingly recent introduction, given Automattic's current
strong leadership position. WordPress was first made publicly available (as downloadable software)
just before a competing tool suddenly raised the rates it charged bloggers. A large number of exist-
ing and new bloggers moved over to WordPress, largely because so much of what it offered was
and is free. The software improved in step, largely due to contributions from the community, and
the rest is history.
WordPress is free to use for the vast majority of its users. Yet Automattic is profitable, while offer-
ing a virtually free service to its direct “customers”—bloggers who use WordPress—and to the end
user, people who visit blogs. Automattic's ability to find a way to pay its bills while interfering so
little with its users of all types is a big part of its appeal. It has also committed that services that
are free today will continue to be free in the future.
