Asides

WordPress is switching from three major releases a year to just one. This new cadence kicks in for 2025 — with WordPress 6.8, scheduled for next Tuesday (April 15th), set to be the only release for the year.

The change was announced during an online meeting with core contributors on March 27th, as reported by The Repository. Some of the contributors who attended the meeting shared their frustration, feeling that Matt Mullenweg, the project’s lead, had already made up his mind to slow the release cadence ahead of the discussion.

Earlier this month, Automattic let go of 16% of its workforce — about 280 folks spread across 90 countries.

It’s worth noting that the cascade of bad news for WordPress seems to have started when Matt impulsively got himself and Automattic tangled in a legal battle with WP Engine over… well, who knows what exactly.

This Friday (17th), the Read.cv platform announced that it was acquired by Perplexity, an AI startup, and it will cease operations.

Read.cv had a social network focused on design called Posts. In June 2024, I wrote about it. I called it “the last good vibes social media.” By that logic, “good vibes social media” has come to an end.

Coincidence or bad omen, the announcement coincided with my opinion that the only way to shield a social platform (any venture, in reality) from eccentric billionaires and mega-corporations is to make its sale impossible.

In this context, Mastodon and other applications based on the ActivityPub protocol are the only viable solution we have today.