We are all open-source fans, right? We love WordPress, and with that, we love open source. Right? But do we also love open source beyond WordPress? Do we invest in open-source projects and communities beyond our own CMS? I recently had a conversation with the lovely Courtney Robertson of GoDaddy. She actively visits other open-source conferences (Linux, for example). Shouldn’t we all look beyond our borders?
The entire benefit of open source is to learn from and build on the work of others. There’s so much to learn outside of our safe WordPress bubble. Getting innovative ideas and building upon the work of other open-source projects could greatly boost our work.
Open-source projects are notoriously difficult to maintain. As the code is open and everybody can contribute, open-source projects suffer many problems. Next to leadership challenges, open source projects suffer from free rider problems and volunteers getting tired or burnt out. Although WordPress faces all these challenges, we’re thriving as a community. After all, WordPress powers about half of the internet. That’s thriving. At the same time, we could learn how to solve our common challenges from other open-source communities.
Of course, many true open-source fans are already integrating in other communities. But let’s be honest: most people are WordPress monogamists. And, don’t get me wrong, I am not asking you to leave WordPress. An innocent flirtation with another open-source community, though – for education purposes only – that couldn’t hurt, right? And it could do wonders for the future of our favorite open-source project. Wouldn’t that make for an excellent New Year’s resolution for 2024?
