And it becomes clear why it was suddenly a matter of urgency to get the wordpress trademark out of Automattic’s hands, not to mention their newfound love for Internet Explorer. (IE? seriously? I remember when promoting open-source browsers was a core feature. I guess it depends who’s paying.)
Strangely, my comment on the latter post congratulating them on officially having sold out failed to make it out of moderation. Am I not allowed to say this until they announce they’ve been acquired?
Still, being eaten by Microsoft is way more impressive than getting swallowed by some random ad company nobody’s heard of. I suppose this means the squirrels lost.
wordpress™ wank 
Andy Beard said
How many real blogs that conform to the WordPress.com terms of service do you tink they will get?
100,000?
500,000?
that girl again said
I think the ToS is probably moot right about now, but yeah, there goes the neighbourhood. If I were a VIP here, I wouldn’t be overjoyed.
Mark Jaquith said
From what I can tell, they have completely separate support teams for VIP. So shouldn’t affect much, as long as that separation is maintained. Doubt they’d screw their VIP clients to answer a bunch of FAQs from newcomers.
drmike said
I think wank is looking at the high percentage of splogs over at Windows Live.
A a check yesterday night shows the trademark is still held by Automattic. The only ones the Foundation holds is the circle W and wordcamp.
that girl again said
Maybe they’re still waiting for the paperwork to come through, but announced it prematurely because they didn’t want it to get lost in the selling-to-Microsoft shitstorm? 😉 I don’t really see what other motive they would have for announcing the transfer before it was completed.
The Spaces thing worries me. From the current state of the forums, it doesn’t seem terribly well-thought out; draft posts aren’t being imported, people are getting locked out of their old blogs before they can access their new ones, and there just seems to be a general failure to acknowledge that these platforms are NOT interchangeable. The way they handle images, privacy controls, advertising, commerce, etc. etc. are completely different, and in many cases incompatible. It is sort of mindboggling that Microsoft would trust Automattic with a transition on this scale when the Cutline debacle proved they couldn’t even transfer people from one theme to another without screwing up.
Oh yeah, and I’m suddenly not seeing ads on wordpress.com when I follow the usual cookieless IE procedures, so I am wondering whether there might be a switch in ad providers to accompany all this…
drmike said
There used to be some comment text in the outputted source where the adverts would go, even if the adverts didn’t display. I don’t see it anymore although it has been a long time since I’ve gone looking for it.
As to the trademark, I wouldn’t have announced it until the transfer had gone through. That way no one would raise any question about the transfer if there was an issue with the actual transfer.
Kissing Bandit said
Well, Microsoft only believes about 300k will be making the shift.
That quote doesn’t inspire confidence that Automattic will be eaten by Microsoft anytime soon, but it could also be trying to throw us off the scent.
Indian boy said
Ironically, browsehappy.com by WordPress disapproving IE is still there LOL; looks like they have forgotten of it.
ian in hamburg said
My blog looks terrible with IE! Not that it’s that great with Firefox…
Jenny said
mine doesn’t work in IE at all 😛 Well, not the way its SUPPOSE to.
Windows Live WordPress Spaces: Is Microsoft Buying Automattic? | Memeingful said
[…] Why move such a valuable asset? […]
Sajib said
I posted another comment on the official announcement page. I wrote that I was wondering how come WordPress.com suddenly fell in love with the browser that poses as nightmare to millions of developers and users. Alas! The moderator didn’t find it funny to approve. 😦 😥
Sajib said
Posted on a similar topic: http://www.aisajib.com/?p=1151
options said
I don’t think it’s about (immediate) acquisition, rather maintenance cost cut (on support Spaces userbase).
Not sure why did they choose Automattic, instead of, say, Teligent, which is an expert in MS platform, though…
adam said
are they still the squirrels after Anil left? Not that I go looking for this sort of thing, but I haven’t seen as much of the hat-in-hand apologies in quite a while…
drmike said
I do note that the recent wordcamp Philippines has a big Microsoft logo in the right sidebar:
http://www.wordcampphilippines.com/
Marcus said
“our partners at Microsoft”?
God Help Us !
drmike said
Wank, we miss you. 🙂
Look like wordpress.com got in trouble yet again for not following their own privacy policy:
http://thenextweb.com/uk/2011/05/30/report-claims-google-and-wordpress-com-released-users-data-without-notification-unlike-twitter/
that girl again said
I really hope all those Chinese bloggers who migrated from Live Spaces migrated straight on to somewhere else with a little more security than ‘ten days warning and then we turn you in.’
The other day, when I learned they were embedding affiliate links in people’s content, my first thought was ‘I’m so glad I don’t blog here anymore.’ I’m half-heartedly toying with the idea of reviving the custom CSS skins, but it’s hard to muster much enthusiasm when I think that nearly everyone who forks out for custom CSS would be better off self-hosting.
drmike said
Didn’t even know you were allowed back in the forums. Amazed actually. Matt contacted me a few years ago. I told him that he had to be honest and own up to what he and other members of his staff did. He beat around the bush like he always does.
And that’s the same response they took when they started adding in Adsense adverts. Deny that they’re there and act confused. Gave them 6 months or so, didn’t it? That getsatisfaction link pretty much supports that.
Unless of course it’s just an act and they do know what is going on.
Oh and they’re ignoring spam reports yet again.
Bold Wandering said
You should be way higher than 34, enjoy your rant.