WordPress – A 10 year journey

WordPress logo

I find it hard to believe but it has now been ten years since my fateful comment on Matt’s blog that kicked off what became the WordPress project!
From those humble beginnings of a simple unmaintained blogging platform (b2/Cafelog) to a world-beating open source CMS. B2/Cafelog was used by perhaps 2,000 bloggers. Now WordPress runs more than 60 million sites around the world. That’s over 17.5% of the web!

WordPress Industry

WordPress now supports a world-wide industry from individual WordPress specialists like me (I’ve just completed my fourth year as my own company zed1.com); small WordPress-based companies like Code for the People; through to multi-million dollar companies like Copyblogger, WooThemes, and of course Automattic.

Praise must go as usual to the fantastic community around WordPress, the singular vision of Matt Mullenweg, and the awesome power of the GNU GPL open source license.

Here’s to the next year

As WordPress enters it’s eleventh year, with version 3.5.1 recently released and version 3.6 currently in the making, I predict it will be another great year for WordPress.

WordCamp Edinburgh UK 2012

Folks, if you are looking to attend WordCamp Edinburgh UK 2012, on the weekend of the 14th and 15th of July, you need to get your tickets pretty soon to qualify for the early bird price (£35).

After midday this coming Friday (June 1st) the price will rise to £45. Mind you, that’s still a fantastic price for a two-day weekend filled with WordPressy goodness .

I’ll be there of course, will you? It’s looking like a cracker with some great ideas for sessions already put forward. I’ll be running an extended session called Starting Out with WordPress. Once again, get your tickets soon.

I look forward to seeing you there.

WPUK is organising this event.

WordPress is Nine. Happy Birthday WordPress!

Today is the ninth birthday of WordPress (the anniversary of the first release).

WordPress still continues to astonish me in its phenomenal growth. Comparing to this time last year, WordPress now powers more than 74 million sites, accounting for more than 16% of the internet.

I’m looking forward to the next year in the world of WordPress. As usual there are lots of exciting things ahead. The first WordPress App Store launched recently, and I’m sure there will be more (it looks like WPMU Dev’s updater/dashboard now lets you buy).
WordPress is really maturing and as a platform and as an industry. There is much more to come and I can’t wait.

WordPress – 9 years since it’s conception

Simon D reminded me that it is now nine years since my fateful comment on Matt’s blog that kicked off this whole WordPress thing!

https://twitter.com/#!/simond/status/162125708506832896

WordPress is really shaping up, and is an evermore stable and functional CMS platform. The statistics continue to astonish me, with more than 70 million sites around the world. That’s nearly 16% of the web!

WordPress is supporting a whole industry of WordPress experts, including me: I’m just starting my fourth year as an independent WordPress specialist.

Praise must go as usual to the fantastic community around WordPress, the singular vision of Matt Mullenweg, and the awesome power of the GNU GPL open source license.

With version 3.4 currently in the making, I predict it will be another great year for WordPress.

WordPress’ Eighth Birthday

Today is WordPress’ official eighth birthday (the anniversary of the first release).

I still marvel at the incredible distance it has come. I’m also still proud that I had a part in its birth. But even more, I marvel at the wonderful contribution of all the WordPress community make to this fantastic project.

A client said to me this morning “This WordPress is brilliant isn’t it?” As I helped him set up his fourth WordPress site. You can’t get much clearer praise than that.

So raise a virtual beer (or other non-alcoholic beverage if, like me, you are teetotal) to WordPress, the community, and to another year.

Update: I just spotted this tweet from Andrew Nacin:

http://twitter.com/#!/nacin/status/74139775761793024

Wow! 25 million standalone WordPress sites plus 20 million WordPress.com sites! No wonder it powers more than 14 percent of the web.