In reply to Terence.

Terrence, thanks for commenting "voice of reason" on my suggestion to reduce Gutenberg to a Jetpack-like role.

I'm trying to be reasonable about the Gutenberg shift, not some disgruntled troll. I want debate, unlike the defenders. It's a big deal for me, as I've been a WordPress contributor for the past five years on WordCamps and WordPress.org teams. Now, I've stepped out on sabbatical from the WordPress community, as I won't be moving beyond version 4.9.x. Instead, I'll focus on client needs, which aren't to suddenly budget a site re-engineering to accommodate a sole plugin that breaks the WordPress platform. That's not a business goal for me nor my clients — though it seems to be a business goal for Automattic and a small coterie of companies on the so-called Growth Council that has crept into WordPress.org without any charter whatsoever.

Unfortunately, my suggestion will not be heard. So-called WordPress benevolent dictator Matt Mullenweg chooses to issue ultimatums with little explanation while ignoring all criticism of his moves. I've spoken with so many high-level and mid-level figures across the community who don't support Gutenberg, but they won't speak out about it. Why not? Does one person merit that much power in an open source community that powers some 30% of the web. I'd expect as much from Facebook's Zuckerberg, but not from someone who claims a mission to "to democratize publishing through Open Source, GPL software."

Whatever, why complain, let's wait it out a year with the community split between 4.9.x and 5.x. Besides, one major figure (in the closet with their opinion) confided to me a year ago at the start of this mess: It's only matter of time until WordPress forks. Why? I asked. Because, they said, it'll just be some business deal. Me, I'll choose community over business. Let Automattic become the new Oracle, if that's what they want.