Comments on: On the GPL, Themes, Plugins & Free.

By: Erik

Erik — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:47:11 +0000

Maybe an option would be to set up an independent commercial plugin and themes directory.
Someting like an Itunes store for plugins with plugins priced from $0.99.
Surely that's not too much to ask?
Unless something like that already exists?

By: I’m Boycotting The Spread Of FUD

I’m Boycotting The Spread Of FUD — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:03:43 +0000

[...] for some back and forth with block quotes. Thankfully there are others that also have the guts to stand up to Matt Mullenweg and demand he recognize the error of his ways to help provide a better business model for WordPress [...]

By: Kevin Eklund

Kevin Eklund — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:47:16 +0000

I fully support what you've said. I found this quote from Matt Mullenweg in response to the following question by Thord Daniel Hedengren that was taken from a Blog Herald post on July 3rd, 2009 entitled "Quick Interview: Matt Mullenweg on the Commercial GPL Themes":

Thord Daniel Hedengren: What about commercial plugins, any chance of them getting the same treatment?

Matt: Commercial plugins are already seamlessly integrated with the plugin directory.

This is such BS, I can't believe he is equating a separate commercial theme directory (which doesn't include free themes) with a plugin repository that contains nothing but free themes. For the most part, the only way to find a commercial plugin is to go to each plugin author's homepage.

I really don't think this kid had thought this whole thing out. I'm afraid you may be right Joost; plugin developers are going to have to follow the footsteps of theme developers and force Matt's hand. I have more thoughts on this here if you're interested:

http://tomuse.com/wp-plugins-developer-boycott-wordpress

By: GPL & WordPress: Theme Vs Plugins | Asif2BD - Rocking World

GPL & WordPress: Theme Vs Plugins | Asif2BD - Rocking World — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 07:44:55 +0000

[...] On the GPL, Themes, Plugins & Free. By Joost de [...]

By: Asif2BD

Asif2BD — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 06:36:16 +0000

I am Big time WordPress Enthusiast. Yes Plugins needs to be treated same as Themes, Though still me & my company mainly working on themes, but we did lots work on Plugins and functionality. Most of the commercial Plugins are hell difficult to code. We create functionality. Themes are look, front end. Plugins is the module that create various lovely functionality.
Matt understand all of it. We all love him. His understanding in commercial is different, like the idea of enterprise Akismet. He love it that way. Give everything free, if some body need extended he could hire a developer or hire the creator. Thats why all GPL.
Love you too Buddy.
Regards

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:00:03 +0000

OK. Thanks for the clarification.

By: Joost de Valk

Joost de Valk — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:56:40 +0000

No, GPL does not mean free to DOWNLOAD, it should be free to REDISTRIBUTE for everyone who purchases it... You can probably find download links for all of them should you wish, but is that really what you'd want to achieve?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:54:53 +0000

So what's the deal on other commercial themes? Will the Thesis theme have to become free to download?

By: BloodhoundBlog.com | Viable Business Models …. | National real estate marketing and technology blog | Realtors and real estate, mortgage and investment news

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:31:32 +0000

[...] reading Rowles’ post I then flipped over to Joost De Valk’s post on his blog about the business model for WordPress and how theme developers vs plugin developers are being [...]

By: Eric Blackwell

Eric Blackwell — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:53:16 +0000

Hey Joost;

I am 100% with you on this. That may sound weird coming from a guy who (admittedly) has not donated to any free plugins and but HAS paid Brian for a developer license with Studio Press themes and many others as well.

If you build quality stuff it should IMO be able to stand the test of the market and get what the market will bear. Plugins are no different from themes in that regard IMHO.

Brain's stuff will only get better (SE firendly-wise) from your work.

Rock on.

Best;

Eric

By: Joost de Valk

Joost de Valk — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:38:54 +0000

Sorry for the late reply Andy, but you're obviously very right in both regards! (BTW Denis is doing an AWESOME job these days in keeping WP trac clean and fixing bugs left right and center).

By: Joost de Valk

Joost de Valk — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:12:11 +0000

No it's not. I've already emailed that bloke to take it down and will otherwise start taking legal action.

By: haitsam shiddiq

haitsam shiddiq — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:30:03 +0000

hello yoast. i want to ask you. what your blog theme is free ????
i had found it at abibakarblog.com
if free, where is the download link..???
i'm very love your theme

By: Vincent

Vincent — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:56:56 +0000

Hi Joost, my donation on yoa.st got returned last time I tried? (21 mei)

My account stated: paypal@yoa.st (De ontvanger van deze betaling is Niet-geregistreerd)

Regarding commercial plugins. One of the reasons I love working with WP instead of anything else, is that you can tune it with 'free' plugins. Test different plugins and get the best one for the purpose. I once started with Drupal and Joomla, but all good plugins need payment. So you don't know what you get, buy things that don't solve your problem and get anoyed by the platform. Also I think 'free' stimulates innovation. I try new plugins all the time. If I had paid for a certain plugin once, I probably wouldn't change it for another, newer plugin as I'd be paying again.

But hey, I DO make donations for good plugins, but I can imagine not everybody does, undermining the essence of 'free' I would vote for the 'app store' pay a buck or a couple for your download.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:51:38 +0000

Of course, I'm glad so many of yours are free. :)

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:49:52 +0000

Can't agree with you more. I'd love to see a page of commercial plugins.

If there was such a page, I would have found shopplugin.net much faster, and not had to waste dozens of hours of time on trying to get the OTHER pseudo-GPL ecommerce plugin to work.

Plugins can save time.
Time is money.
If a plugin is priced reasonably, and saves me loads of time, of course I'm going to use it.

Anyway, thanks for your soap-boxing.

By: Bart van Maanen

Bart van Maanen — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:11:29 +0000

I'm not a developer or plugin author but your comment seems to be spot on. By the way, pretty smart to put your latest news on the dashboard.

By: Commercial WordPress Theme Directory? What About Plugins?

Commercial WordPress Theme Directory? What About Plugins? — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:16:29 +0000

[...] On the GPL, Themes, Plugins & Free [Yoast] [...]

By: Joost de Valk

Joost de Valk — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:21:49 +0000

All of them work :)

By: Kevin Law

Kevin Law — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:12:49 +0000

Hey Joost, I am trying to make a donation to you, but seems like there a few donation links. One leads to AlthA Webdesign, and another leads to paypal@yoa.st

Which one? :)