WPWeekly Episode 17 – Interview With Matt Mullenweg

wordpressweekly1 Wow. Episode 17 of WordPress Weekly went off pretty well. For those of you who couldn’t make it to the live version, Matt Mullenweg was the special guest but to my surprise, he also brought with him Andy Peatling, lead developer of the BuddyPress project. In this weeks episode, I had Matt answer the following questions:

What are the proper or improper ways of using the WordPress trademark. What are some of the acceptable uses of the WordPress logo.
Could you explain the revenue model for Automattic.
Here are a list of projects that are currently ongoing and I’d like for you to give us an update on each one if possible. Akismet, Bbpress, TalkPress, BuddyPress, WordPress.com, WordPress.org, Theme Repository, Gravatar
What role will Warwick play in Automattic? (Why was he hired on)
Most of us in the WordPress circle realize the design firm Happy Cog had something to do with the new WordPress administration redesign. Could you please explain their role and give us an explanation as to how the new design came to be what it is today.
How much influence do the end users of WordPress have on the development of the WordPress.org project?
We’ve seen a complete UI overhaul on the back end of WordPress and the inclusion of automatic plugin upgrades. What is coming down the pike in terms of WordPress 2.6 and beyond?

I apologize up front for the first 15 minutes of the show. While the interview was taking place, Matt had accidentally pulled the chord out of the speaker phone device, causing it to reboot. He later called in with his cell phone which didn’t have the best connection. Shortly there after, the speaker phone device came back on and the rest of the show had good audio quality.

Matt and Andy answered a number of questions from the chatroom as well as from those who called into the show. Thanks to everyone who showed up and participated in the event.