Episode Details

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute 

WordPress.org briefly introduced 1-click plugin previews this week. If you found yourself looking at the plugin page on the world’s largest directory this week you could enter the official WordPress playground to explore what the plugin had to offer.

The first problem? Well, it didn’t work. This sent authors scrambling to understand why their plugins weren’t working or more generally making the case for why this lead to a worse experience overall for the end user.

The root of the issue, however, was that none of these changes were communicated to authors. No deadline, no opt-out — nothing.

The changes have been reverted, and while I think this is a great idea — I mean, who would’n’t want to try before you buy? — it needs much more thought, planning, and communication next time.

Plugin authors: we’re really seeing whose playground this really is these days aren’t we?

Ollie without onboarding

Ollie, the theme I covered in last week’s monologue, is now available in the repo but looking a little thinner than when it started.

The block theme that made a controversial splash won’t offer its “innovative” onboarding experience for users. That feature will come in a plugin in the near future.

Vote vote vote

Get out and vote!

The WP Weekly has launched its annual WordPress awards. Vote for all things WordPress, including this podcast. We’re in section 20. If you love our podcast, please vote for us!

Nathan Wrigley is also selling awards. Name yourself your own winner for only $20. All proceeds will be donated to WPCC The WP Builds WordPress Awards 2023

Open source and AI

Meta is trying to shake up the AI world, specifically OpenAI and Google, with its open source Llama model.

“Open source drives innovation because it enables many more developers to build with new technology,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.

This open source “debate” has spurred, apparently, a lot of debate in the VC world. Here’s a recent episode of the This Week in Startups where in the first 5 minutes you can get some insight into what a billionaire investor thinks about it. Bill Gurley and Sunny Madra talk open-source vs. proprietary AI | E1825

Open Source and AI is worth mentioning because Jetpack uses OpenAI, which isn’t open source at all. I’m really curious to see what Mullenweg decides to do with the AI features in Jetpack and WordPress.com as he refines that product.

Going all-in on a closed sourced product like that, after alerting us all to learn AI deeply recently would be…weird.

Matt Mullenweg on the Silicon Slopes

Speaking of Matt Mullenweg, he recently appeared on a short interview at the Silicon Slopes Summit.

He talks to a media personality about open source, Automattic, and remote work. I wanted to play a few clips that you might find interesting. The value of Automattic, the value of the WordPress ecos