Peter Knight (@peterrknight)

I still don’t understand how Jetpacks adds up to the kind of malicious agency you are projecting it to have.

If jetpack is popular, it’s improving user experience for the entire market – especially those that are starting out with WordPress and want/expect certain features out of the box without having to hunt down individual plugins.

If you don’t like Jetpack, it’s not mandatory. Hell, it’s open source, you can fork any subset of functionality and create a paid product if you so wish. And it’s really easy to compete with Jetpack if you’re targeting certain functionality.

Whatever leverage Automattic has (huge .com userbase etc), also has downsides for smaller outfits to exploit. There’s no way it can compete with a laser focused developer or team that is completely focused on a single user group with a narrow problem. It has to satisfy a large userbase (hard and constricting!) rather than simply convert a small devoted group of users. And many WP oriented businesses thrive on focusing on a subset of users.

I am glad they are focusing on growing the user base – that translates to more niche customers for commercial developers.

Personally, I prefer small plugins and plugins that don’t require a 3rd party connection and that’s how I largely select what I use. But I can see the benefit in Jetpack’s approach.

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