Will the GPL Kill WordPress Development?
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There has been a lot of debate in the last few days about licensing and WordPress. The license WordPress is under controls what can be done with it, so it has a massive impact on the community and creating add-ons for WordPress.
In this post, I want to sum up all the debate so far for you, talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the current license, and then a thought on the end about premium themes and the absence of premium plugins.
A Quick Overview
WordPress is licensed under the GPL. In short, that means that you can copy any of the WordPress code, modify it, and distribute it yourself. But in return, you have to distribute it under the GPL license as well.
The recent debate all sparked off when Daniel Jalkut wrote Getting Pretty Lonely, where he made a convincing argument for using a more open license than the GPL.
The difference between the GPL and the licenses he recommends is that when you modify the code, you can distribute it under any license you like (Even a commercial one).
Strengths of the GPL
The GPL license works well because it ensures that when a developer contributes code to WordPress, they have the peace of mind that their code will always remain under a license they believe in.
It also protects the long-term lifespan of WordPress. What would have happened if Matt had gotten bored of the project 5 years ago? Would WordPress have gone down as a 1-year experiment and we’d all be on Movable Type?
No, the GPL means that any other developer can pick up the reins and carry it on. That’s how WordPress came to be in the first place; Matt and a few others picked up the reins of another GPL project that had died when its original developer disappeared.
Why Use Another License?
The GPL isn’t flawless either. Under the GPL, all works based on the project must also be licensed under the GPL. But just as this is the strength of the GPL for some, it is also a big hindrance for others.
Consider the premium themes market; themes are a part of WordPress, so do they fall under the GPL?
To answer that question, Matt has asked the Software Freedom Law Center to investigate. Their findings were that the PHP code in the themes does, but the artwork and CSS doesn’t.
Now, there is a big difference between a law firm saying this and a judge saying it, but if a judge were to rule this way, then the PHP code of every theme available would legally have to be licensed under the GPL. And that applies to all themes, whether paid or free.
And that’s just one example. The bigger issue is WordPress itself. With a more free license, then a developer could take WordPress itself and do anything he liked with it, e.g. What if a web developer could take it, re-brand it, and sell it (or just give it) on as a custom CMS to his clients?
Or what if Matt and the other community leaders made a few decisions that the community wasn’t happy with? What can we do then? With a more free license, the answer is simple; anything we want.
So Which Should We Use?
So, was the GPL the best license for WordPress, or is free-er better?
In my opinion, WordPress and the GPL have done great together. The community that has built up around WordPress is second to none, and a large part of that is thanks to the peace of mind that the GPL gives to developers.
Their contributions are safe, no-one is going to make sneaky money off their work, and if they disagree with the leadership, they’re always welcome to branch off into their own project.
WordPress is GPL. Matt could not believe any more strongly in the GPL, and after 6 years, WordPress has grown to become by far the biggest blogging (CMS?) platform out there. It’s hard to say that the GPL has been holding us back when you look at the success WordPress has had.
But could that be put to the test?
WordPress has a huge advantage over any new competitors because of the community behind it. But when WordPress began, Movable Type had all the community.
MaisonBisson.com wrote a great article titled Why Freedom Matters, which explains how “Movable Type was ‘free enough.’,” to build a community around and it prospered for a few years. But then WordPress came along.
So if the GPL really is holding WordPress back, maybe in a few years time we’ll be reading an article on how “WordPress was free enough”, until something better came.
But for now, WordPress is free, has a fantastic community, and the development is going strong so I’m sticking with it. What about you?
Premium Themes vs. Premium Plugins
One thing that came out of this all is that WordPress.org now features premium themes which are 100% GPL (PHP, CSS and all).
I then read a post on Webmaster Source which asks the questions; what about plugins? Matt points out that premium theme authors are able to charge a fortune for their themes, but plugin developers are left to virtually non-existent donations.
There are a lot of great plugins out there. Some do charge money, but the vast majority don’t. Perhaps it is just the culture of charging for work hasn’t penetrated the plugin community yet (In the same way it hadn’t in the theme community until a year or two ago), or is it something else?
If some of the plugins I use introduced a fee tomorrow, I don’t think I’d have any choice but to pay up (At least until I found an alternative). My site is completely dependent on some of those plugins, as are most WordPress blogs.
But swapping from a free plugin to a paid one is a big change and at the very best, is going to annoy your users. At the worst, they won’t be users for much longer. Why should they have to pay for something they’ve gotten for free all along?
A better solution for making the transition might be to keep the current version free (That way, no-one is losing out on what they currently have), but put your new features into a premium version. If a user loves your plugin and wants to get more from it, then they can pay for it.
Of course, that all depends on the GPL license permitting it.
What are your thoughts on this all? Is the GPL restrictive, or is it an advantage to WordPress? And what should the plugin developers do to start getting a better deal? I’d love to hear some good discussion on this.
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About the Author
Michael Martin
Michael Martin is the founder of Pro Blog Design. He works as a freelance web designer, loves WordPress, and has an unhealthy addiction to smilies.
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That has been exactly my thinking lately.
I would like to take WP125, rewrite it from scratch, making the code cleaner and more Object-Oriented and adding a few killer features that users have been clamoring for. Then keep it free, but offer a premium package that includes some extras, as well as access to a support area.
Sound like a good idea?
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It sounds ideal Matt. The support in particular is one thing that you should definitely make a premium feature. It’s good to help people out, but if they really need the help, they shouldn’t mind compensating you for it. I spend a ridiculous amount of time going through my emails, I’d hate to see how many extra emails you must get with a popular plugin to support!
New features sound great too! I loved WP125 before I swapped to BSA, and if I ever go back to selling ads myself, I’ll be back with WP125. If there was some extra specialist functionality in there that I liked the look of, I’d be happy to pay for it! :)
I think the bigger issue here is not whether anyone charges for their plugins, it’s whether or not they inherit the GPL license. If they do, it will only be a matter of time before someone makes the plugin available for free (whether it’s the same code or modified in some manner).
With plugins there are no images or CSS usually that keep it from being 100% GPL.
While several premium theme developers have licensed their themes under the GPL, they provide support which in many cases is worth the price of the theme. But most plugins don’t require support and as such, offer no incentive to purchase it when you’ll probably be able to legally get it for free before long anyway.
That’s true Ben. I really don’t know how the GPL applies to plugins. Based on the ruling Matt got from the Software Freedom Law Center, it would appear that plugins do have to be 100% GPL.
But in the “Getting Pretty Lonely” article, there is an argument for whether or not plugins do fall under the license of the core system. And the most important fact; there has been no clear ruling on that in a court yet.
Plugins can need a huge amount of support though. Just look at any free plugin that has been around a while and has comments open on its plugin page – there will be hundreds of them. I know that a lot of them will just be saying thanks, but given that the comments aren’t normally advertised as a support option, I think a lot of people with support issues would resort to other methods instead (Like email, friends, WP.org forums etc.) making it hard to gauge just how many support requests have been made. :(
GPL is great. Trouble is, there will always be people who will try and exploit it. The problem I see with GPL is theme/plugin developers are powerless to stop others exploiting their work and undercutting them/giving their ‘stuff’ away for free. No?
.-= Alex Denning´s last blog ..Three Months of Blogging: Some Lessons =-.
But why is that a problem? The ability for people to share and distribute however they see fit (including free of cost) is one of the core principles of the GPL.
If theme developers have licensed their themes under the GPL, they should be fine with that kind of activity occurring. They need to stop viewing themselves as selling themes, and realize they’re selling updates and support.
The themes are just creating a market for the support.
In fact, people distributing the themes for free would probably increase the market demand for their product!
Why is that a problem? Because if you’re job and only source of income is selling these themes and then someone comes and gives them away for free, that’s not put you in the best situation. It is a valid point you make though – more and more you’re just buying the support.
.-= Alex Denning´s last blog ..5 Brilliant WordPress Articles =-.
Remember, we’re talking about themes that people have released under the GPL.
if your income depends on selling the Theme (rather than the support) you a) shouldn’t have licensed it under the GPL and b) shouldn’t have based your business on a license that doesn’t allow you to protect your income.
Theme coders are promoting the fact that their themes are GPL compliant, that includes allowing people to re-distribute them how they see fit.
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I have one word to describe situation – politics.
Situation remains (and likely will remain because GPL wasn’t made for non-compiled languages like PHP as far as I know) unclear in legal sense and that means everyone is twisting it how they see fit.
As for specific impact I can only share what I feel. In one year (tomorrow) with WordPress I see WP itself going strong, but theme and most of plugins I use code rot with scary speed.
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“What if a web developer could take it, re-brand it, and sell it (or just give it) on as a custom CMS to his clients?” The GPL allows any and all parts of that. The GPL prevents further developers to take customers rights away, i.e. you can’t force your clients not to redistribute it if they want to.
“Or what if Matt and the other community leaders made a few decisions that the community wasn’t happy with? What can we do then? With a more free license, the answer is simple; anything we want.” The GPL allows any customer / person who has the software to fork it. WordPress is a fork of B2, because B2 developers ran off…. luckily B2 was licensed under the GPL, so users like Matt could go there own route.
I really don’t see how WordPress could have a more open or free license. It would either have to switch to the MPL (Mozilla Public Liecense) or the Public Domain. Any other license is going to be less open and is either going to take rights away from the end users or away from further developers.
The GPL makes sure the original author gets his fame in any fork, while allowing developers to fork, modify, and distribute the work, yet protects the customers’ rights. By forcing other developers who use the software to keep the code as GPL, it protects the customers of the forked software, e.g. John Doe can’t take away the right you would have had with WordPress if you buy his forked WordPress.
What about the LGPL? I may not have my facts straight, but isn’t it pretty much just the GPL, but without the stipulation that derivatives have to be licensed the same? Or how about the BSD license?
.-= redwall_hp´s last blog ..Display Headlines From an RSS Feed on Your WordPress Blog =-.
People really have to define what open and free means. The difference between the GPL, LGPL, MIT, and BSD licenses are small differences in who gets a few more rights. GPL gives rights to users first and developers second. The other licenses I’ve listed do it the other way around. You pick GPL if you want to protect customers of future forks from having fewer rights.
Other licenses allow their code to be used in restricting licenses, which gives users very few rights, even though the author benefited from a license that gave him more rights. Is it fair for people to use other people’s code, add to it, then not allow customers and clients those same rights. I’m not really talking about GPL vs. MIT or BSD or LGPL, but other non-open source licenses. Differences in open source licenses are small. Sure they can lead to big differences, but I don’t think picking one open source license over another is going to kill any project.
Allowing developers to pick between different open source license would likely be beneficial, as long as that code doesn’t make it’s way into close source projects. But in the end, WordPress is GPL because B2 was GPL.
Under “Strengths of the GPL” you say:
That’s not a strength of the GPL in relation to other open source licenses, which is what this question is really about, that’s a strength of any open source license.
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As with most things in the business world, you need to simply offer WordPress users a product *worth paying for* if you want them to pay for it. High quality themes with custom images is a superb start. Customer service / support is also a huge draw.
As for charging for plugins, I think this will simply result in many WordPress users finding a free alternative.
When you buy a theme, you can *see* what you are paying for. When you buy a plugin, not only do you not see what you’re paying for (you’re depending on the author’s description alone), but you don’t even know how well or poorly it will function. How many dozens of plugins have I burned through only to find that they are w3c invalid, break some other code on the site, or just dont work? Why would I pay for that?
Paying for Uber themes > paying for plugins :)
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There can be a lot of money with plugins. I realize many of them are free, but I also see many of them cost a good amount. Some of the ones that are free have given me trouble time and time again. With the ones that cost some money, I have had only few problems and they are usually covered by the creator. In the end, ‘most’ of the time money can get you a great product.