AutoMATTic should be careful what they do next; they could very suddenly be looking at “just a few thousand” lawsuits from Flywheel + WP Engine WordPress users and developers.
I’ve seen Matt speak several times, and I am actually shocked at what he has said and done in the past few days. And while I am not aware of a timeline prior to WordCamp regarding this, from the outside looking in, it seems like Matt’s actions were taken without warning. And I understand “without warning” may not be entirely correct, but I don’t know. However, for likely 99% of Flywheel+WP Engine customers/users/devs, it was without warning. At the moment, there are workarounds at least for installing or updating plugins. But, if Matt were to take any further steps, watch out.
P.S. I am a Flywheel user/dev with 17 client sites, have been with Fly for 9 years and have only 1 minor-negative issue in that time. And interestingly, I met and spoke with Fly’s founders at the last WordCamp SF at UCSF Mission Bay campus (WordPress’s 10th anniv.) Fun times. Can’t we all just get along, people?
