Rules are for thee, not for me

ACF isn’t a premium plugin (linked post only concerns those).

The linked post also might not reflect the current policies. This update was a security update and was done due to the unique circumstances around the original publisher.

There are a lot of other employers that won't make you lie for them.

If you point to any lies told by me, I would love to correct them.

No one has told me to come here and defend anyone. I work at a part of Automattic that is isolated from anything WordPress — I don’t have to be here.

I am defending values I believe in. I am trying to make sure correct information is out there.

You are free to not believe that of course.

If Microsoft took over an existing GitHub repo, would those values be the same?

The correct information is that your employer created the security problem as part of their shakedown attempt. They then banned the WP Engine developers from Wordpress so that they couldn't update the plugin. Now they've forked the plugin, removed the commercial upgrade, and renamed it.

I'm not sure where values come into it. I'd be ashamed to work there.

You're values are doing open source dirty.

What values are those, exactly?

US dollar values deposited into the accounts every paycheck, I assume.

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." -- Upton Sinclair (probably, may be apocryphal)

Automattic is an open source company, albeit one controlled by a melodrama villain.

Seven hours have passed without you being able to name one (1) of those values. Such integrity!

Some people have better things to do with their life than win internet arguments, man.

Oh wow we are still saying that in 2024, huh?

For sure dude, the guy who came here to defend the values of his own and his megalomaniac employer on a weekend evening is probably much too busy to name one. That tracks.

Spamming nonsense isn't a good look...

The mental gymnastics you keep doing to defend your boss are impressive, and I'm sure will reflect well on your next perf cycle!

Exactly. ACF is free and open source. ACF Pro is not. Secure Custom Fields is based on the free version (ACF, without "Pro").

It still uses trademarks from ACF, those are obviously not "open source", which also has been Matt's & wordpress.org's stance since forever: the _code_ is GPL, but the assets are not.

If you "fork" the assets, you're not covered by GPL.

Obviously it's nonsense to discriminate between the free version of a freemium plugin and a commercial plugin and this is simply a stupid way to lash out.

Because WordPress is licensed under the GPL, all plugins must be licensed under GPL-compatible licenses. This applies to ACF Pro as well.