In reply to Jeff Chandler.

Jeff, as described in the article, it will be hard if not impossible to install a plugin from non official source. It might be totally due to not having enough coffee, late hour or whatever which is to be blamed in me misinterpreting things, but in the real life, the only way software exists is by someone paying for it. If you do not get paid for the development of a software you are more likely to just stop developing it.

As for people using a plugin from wordpress.org being the plugin author's user, this is just false. They have downloaded the software from wordpress.org, they should ask that distributor to support them. With wordpress.org no plugin author can connect with the plugin's users therefor I am not sure in what way are they exactly "users".
This is actually a practical and not a philosophical problem, in the next version I want to make a big UI change and I have no way to communicate that people should test before upgrade.

wordpress.com want to get 25$ a month (which is probably double of industry standard) from users? good for them, but if they intent to use my software as a way to promote the service, the honest thing is to pay royalties, and if they don't I do not have to play their game. Less non paying installs means less support calls from people that didn't pay for support.

I am unlikely to actually follow on what I said, but if plugins are what make wordpress special, the disregard to the health of the plugin economy is annoying.