In reply to Melissa.

Innovation is driven by need. Plugins traditionally power that need. Its not about, "Hey have this idea" when considering a framework. Wordpress is on its own rather a plug ready blog application. Like Joomla is a plug ready Content Management System. Neither Excel at their basic function but instead rely on the plug enabled extensibility to innovate features.

Its a publishing platform.

In comparison to say Liferay its not in the same league as a platform. Huh?

Liferay is a java based platform. Also extensible. Enterprise ready and more. Liferays development however focused much upon enterprise (or not) processes and procedures and how actions and roles in the real world work.

For example. A Wordpress online news site has a hard time replicating what you would see in the real world. A publisher, ceo, editor, writers, layout people, imaging people on and on and lets say doing that across 10 international markets. There is "flow". Whats included, whats rejected, what must be changed, revisions histories, on and on. One organization might have very different processes from another, one department may have very different processes than the one upstairs. Yet they need come together into a final product. This might be true as well in say Online seminars or even commerce lets say.

Wordpress was never coded from the ground up to manage versatile roles, tasks, processes etc. and integrations thereof. That would be a "core evolution" but at the sametime then we need ask ourselves is the programming platform (PHP) up to the task. Sure, it could be done in PHP but really PHP is not well suited towards this type of development as its a cobbled together language without even respectable support for multiple thread execution yet we have had multicore computer processors for years on end now. Just as mySQL database is not up to the task without cobbling of distributed enterprise level database work where-as Oracle who now owns mySQL is. Presumably Oracle bought the company to make sure it never is. Microsoft SQL Server is enterprise ready as well. Fully scalable.

Most Wordpress sites have a handful of people administrating them for example. But lets say this "home & garden" site you start all of a sudden takes off! Zoom! Due to it there are lots of opportunities for growth. Why there are thousands of people also interested in environmental safe gardening, growing your own fruits and veggies, recipes, home decor, power equipment for the home garden etc. All of a sudden those few people have problems. So you get some volunteers. Here's this guy that knows environmental stuff upside down. He can write too! But in knowing Wordpress? Layout, comment approval? all these things? Imaging? So now your doing alot more work and your focus falls off what you need be doing.

As new volunteers come in they should be able to do ONLY what they need to do. Nothing more or less. He writes todays environmental article. His editor asks please rewrite this. Done. Editor approves it. Then the person who deal with images does her work, layout person does her work, publisher approves or maybe wants different images and sends it back. That CORE UNIT should not need do anything other than necessary nor have access to anything other than what they need.

Now you have an ability, process by which you can add any new sections or multiple writers on and on and YOU can still do what YOU need to do without doing more.

Why its going SO well in fact its time to seek advertisers. Thats different people. They're processes are going to be different. Yet, it must all integrate into current processes.

They need target advertisers based on page content. So home gardening products .vs. power equipment .vs. home decor on and on. They are making the phone calls, getting advertiser signups etc. Images however might be advertiser supplied or they want created on your end. Those also need move through processes, into layout peoples hands, pass to the publisher of a section etc.

The real world when it comes to information exchange has processes that can vary widely or similar except for this and that etc. That flexibility is important to being able to manage things without everything becoming a tangle of collisions in what people do to make the product.

The processes people need know are just that, everything else should be transparent. The writer should not be concerned at all about images or image sizes, types, where they will go nor should those parties be concerned about the content. The editor need not be concerned with placements of where ad's go or perhaps even images in any way. The publisher needs be able to send back work to any party with notation. "Need this image changed, that content altered and this and that".

Pretty much every CMS/Blog platform has the same issues. As they grow so does the workload. The more people who come in as authors/contributors the more the workload on the site administrator(s). Usually it implodes as the workflows cannot be segregated appropriately and even if they can be the software capability is too coarse to afford flexibility in what can and cant be done more or less procedures (process) to make things flow smooth, logical and all integrate into everyones work into a final daily or weekly whatall product.

As I said in another post.

I would say Wordpress need have a core developer stay on the current Wordpress application and bring in a few noobs to keep it moving ahead with the goal of "Do what we need do to expand our web market share". Its said Wordpress does 20% of the net. Ok. Lets say thats true. Lets make that groups goal 25%.

The other core developers need start coding an all new Wordpress using Microsoft C# and ASP.NET which is enterprise ready and has the capability to create just what I noted above (and much much more) so Wordpress is positioned for the future as is explained in the other comment I made.

If the work on the new Wordpress is not accomplished by the time that 25% is realized then set a new goal. 30%.

As I noted in the other comment. All of these smart technologies are headed towards unification. Thats the next BIG THING coming and in some regards already here. Windows is going "Online" client/server based computing in the cloud. We will be able to do anything from anywhere. Play video games at home, tablet, smart watch, pc, laptop and more starting right where we left of on Halo 7 lets say. Anything you can do on your PC, TV, Phone etc. now (and then some) you will be able to do anyplace, at anytime with any device.

Web applications will be at the core of much of this and IF a web application CANT do it then it will fall to others that can.

You see some of it now even with Wordpress. Managing your site a bit with mobile app's. Instead of it being a hodge podge of things that somehow "glue together" to afford functionality and workflow the future is one of "no glue" but instead, "Its built in" to EVERYTHING.

Right now we are in this intermediate stage of all of it. A no wine before its time thing in conjunction with getting the infrastructures in place (hardware, software, connectivity etc) is where we be now.

Future however is its all seamless. Everything just works. Call it Net 3.0? or 4.0?

Net 5 or 6.0 will be another radical shift. Anyone will be able to build their own software without having to know a thing about writing software. Drag and Drop, set associations, properties, interactions and run all from the web.

For example your gardening site can have you write a Christmas greeting card text, lucy does the layout, cindy does the graphics, you drop the final into a mailbox icon and every single person gets a personalized greeting card printed on their home printer or is there when they turn on their phone or TV. Your TV will have a touch screen tablet that goes with it with Windows and the TV will echo whatever the tablet interactions are. On and On.

All and I do mean ALL of these now popular types of open source PHP based applications are in their final hurrah days, over the hump per se. A persons life might be over the hump at say 40-50 depending on ones flavor. LOL.

The PHP stuff is already over that hump.

It will simply not stand the test of time as it cannot without all sorts of cobbling (which people will do!) live inside the smart technology unification coming. I call it "the web grows up" and it becomes what inevitably all information assets have become. A place for lots of big guys, not as many small guys, regulated of course, and then some. But there is TREMENDOUS opportunity at stake as well!

Wordpress is near PERFECTLY positioned due to market share to hold that share, preferably grow it another 10% +/-5 and then release a new platform that can grow, has the proper capabilities in as far as work processes and flows go, stays highly extensible and is able to hit the ground running.

While many a developer will say, "Oh no! That'd mean my Wordpress Theme's or Plug-in's business may suffer" they need realize if it does not happen they are already dead and just do not know it. They too need be getting the beta releases unfit for public live usage and working on components, plugin's etc. to meet the future as well. USE the monetary resources enjoyed now by Wordpress to be able to make the transition. Sure, need dump knowing PHP and learn say C#. Programming is programming. Languages are differences in semantics and syntax generally speaking. The pain is learning all new libraries and functions. Comes with the turf.

Those developers who want really see the gold mine will do the work.

If Wordpress does not make this jump then you can be rest assured another entity will. You mention Weebly for example. GOBS and I do mean GOBS of people set up their personal site or faint business site using it. Why? Its simple. Is it as versatile as Wordpress? No. But understand it doesnt mean Weebly is just sitting back doing nothing. I presume their software is proprietary enterprise level, probably java, C++ or C# (C Sharp).

Drag n Drop websites is the near future. Drag this plugin there, drag that category content here. Adjust the properties. Done. Already exists. The short distant future is unification of technologies and anything not doing it will die. Again, to some extent already exists.

Microsoft has in fact a program where-as if someone has a unique idea towards these forms of web applications, is a programmer, uses .NET they will not only help but will help find funding for it publicly available right now.

Folks dont realize it nor do many developers for that matter. Microsoft has truly begun its march towards "When people think Internet they think Microsoft". Those goals were set in place 15+ years ago and they are only now starting to become reality.