@Matt Fraser and @Robbie - Proof? I'm NOT the one that pointed out that it appears Automattic ported the theme for Matt Cutts.

Another commenter above pointed that out and it's since been backed up by others not involved in the comments above. The speculation is based on the CSS and knowing how Automattic's theme team typically does things. That is why it appears to be the work of Automattic's theme team.

My post clearly states that what I was posting was speculation and something that wouldn't surprise me and that I hope it isn't the case. It doesn't state it as fact.

Matt Cutts is an influential employee at Google. If he wanted to switch to something else i'm pretty sure he could snap his fingers and have someone at Google create him a new blog or simply switch to Blogger. His blog is so basic he could simply install the core Genesis theme itself. Seriously, have you looked at his blog design?

The fact that appears to be Automattic that handled the theme migration and the fact that it wasn't really a redesign but a port of an existing design from one theme framework to another... strikes me as odd. Why port the site if you aren't also incorporating a redesign? Why fix something that wasn't broken? Why go to Automattic for such a simple port?

This is Matt Cutts we're talking about. He knows Google related SEO better than anyone of us. If he didn't think Thesis was acceptable from an SEO standpoint he wouldn't have used it as long as he had.

The entire situation is odd. And for those that think that shady things don't go on behind the scenes in the WordPress community and think something that appears to be as simple as eliminating someone as major as Matt Cutts as being able to be touted by Thesis as a user of their product is minor, you are mistaken.

Matt Cutts is hugely important in the SEO world and to a theme provider such as Thesis that heavily touts SEO in it's marketing, losing him as a user is a big blow from a marketing perspective. On the flip side, it's a huge boon for StudioPress and Genesis. Anyone discounting the negative blow to negative and the positive impact to StudioPress clearly doesn't know much about the WordPress commercial theme industry and why internal politics play a role in situations like this.

None of what I have said is in defense or support of Thesis or Genesis. It's merely pointing out that there could be more than meets the eye to this situation and this is coming from someone who has experienced similar situations and seen similar situations play out firsthand by some of the same players involved in this particular situation.

I could care less which theme is better than the other. Frankly, I don't give a shit about themes as long as they don't introduce plugin conflicts with plugins my company develops. But my comment had nothing to do with that. My comment was about the possibility that there could be some shady community politics and business practices at work behind the scenes. Not that there is, but that there could be.

As for shady community politics and vindictive behavior, anyone who thinks this type of behavior does not go on behind the scenes in the commercial WordPress community clearly hasn't seen the WordPress commercial community from the inside OR was important enough to see it firsthand like I and many others have.

Nowhere in my comment above or in this comment do I say that the scenario I described is 100% fact. I even state that I hope it's not true. What I have stated is simply a scenario that would not surprise me knowing the history of all the parties involved. And I know the history far better than either of you do.

I hope the scenario I described above is not the case. I hope Matt Cutts decided to switch to Genesis on his own accord and just reached out to Automattic on his own to assist in the migration. But I wouldn't be willing to bet money on it. Nothing involing WordPress internal politics would surprise me because i've seen so much of it firsthand and been involved in so much of it firsthand that it simply wouldn't surprise me if what I described was what happened.