No, they are not the same people. Automattic is owned by one of the creators of WordPress and they donate some work to the open source project, but they are two entirely separate entities.
WordPress.org is a non-profit organization and Automattic is a for-profit business. Legally they have to be separate and different. Though, that doesn’t stop them from influencing the WP org to promote their ‘free’ plugins over others that are often mostly advertisements for their paid services.
WP Engine provides more development work to the non-profit than Automattic does.
The guy who, in the first place, came up with the idea for a fork of b2/cafelog (which would come to be known as WordPress), is Matt Mullenweg. He’s still the lead developer of the open-source WordPress project to this day, 20 years later.
It is true that Mullenweg’s company Automattic gave the WordPress trademark to the WordPress Foundation in 2010. The founder of said foundation is the very same Matt Mullenweg. It is not the case that Automattic and the Foundation “legally […] have to” be separate, that’s a choice that Automattic/Mullenweg made.
It is a fact that without Mullenweg, WordPress would not exist, period (neither .org nor .com). Mullenweg/Automattic do not only “[influence] the WP org”, they created (and still lead!) the WP org.
Of course, I’m sure WP Engine is a fine host, and all the better that they also contribute back to the WP project (that’s the power of open source!).
You know that they made the software in the first place, right? As in, the WP.org people and the WP.com people are the same people.
No, they are not the same people. Automattic is owned by one of the creators of WordPress and they donate some work to the open source project, but they are two entirely separate entities.
WordPress.org is a non-profit organization and Automattic is a for-profit business. Legally they have to be separate and different. Though, that doesn’t stop them from influencing the WP org to promote their ‘free’ plugins over others that are often mostly advertisements for their paid services.
WP Engine provides more development work to the non-profit than Automattic does.
The guy who, in the first place, came up with the idea for a fork of b2/cafelog (which would come to be known as WordPress), is Matt Mullenweg. He’s still the lead developer of the open-source WordPress project to this day, 20 years later.
It is true that Mullenweg’s company Automattic gave the WordPress trademark to the WordPress Foundation in 2010. The founder of said foundation is the very same Matt Mullenweg. It is not the case that Automattic and the Foundation “legally […] have to” be separate, that’s a choice that Automattic/Mullenweg made.
It is a fact that without Mullenweg, WordPress would not exist, period (neither .org nor .com). Mullenweg/Automattic do not only “[influence] the WP org”, they created (and still lead!) the WP org.
Of course, I’m sure WP Engine is a fine host, and all the better that they also contribute back to the WP project (that’s the power of open source!).