Author Archives: Boone Gorges

Indirect funding and the limits of free software patronage

by Boone Gorges Posted on July 21, 2016

A few thoughts about direct and indirect funding for free software development. Proprietary software is often sold at retail, which makes for a diverse economic model. Let’s say that a million people buy a $10 yearly license for your iWidgetFactoryPro™. This year you’ll have $10,000,000 dollars, much of which can be used to fund future […] Continue reading →

Posted in etc, free software, patronage | Comments Off on Indirect funding and the limits of free software patronage

WordCamp Chicago 2016 slides

by Boone Gorges Posted on April 30, 2016

I just finished giving a talk at WordCamp Chicago titled “Backward Compatibility as a Design Principle”, in which I discussed WordPress’s approach to backward compatibility, how it’s evolved over the years, and its costs and benefits when compared to the alternatives. I’m not sure that the slides are very helpful in isolation, but someone asked […] Continue reading →

Posted in backward compatibility, slides, WordCamp, WordCamp Chicago 2016, wordpress | Comments Off on WordCamp Chicago 2016 slides

BuddyPress Docs 1.9.0 and Folder support

by Boone Gorges Posted on March 16, 2016

BuddyPress Docs is one of my more popular WordPress plugins. For years, one of the most popular feature requests has been the ability to sort Docs into folders. Docs 1.9.0, released earlier this week, finally introduced folder functionality. The feature is pretty cool. When editing a Doc within the context of a group, you can […] Continue reading →

Posted in BuddyPress, buddypress docs, David Cavins, patronage, UF Health, wordpress | Comments Off on BuddyPress Docs 1.9.0 and Folder support

WordCamp NYC talk on the history of the WordPress taxonomy component

by Boone Gorges Posted on December 21, 2015

At WordCamp NYC 2015, I was pleased to present on the history of the WordPress taxonomy component. Of all the WordCamp talks I’ve given, this one was the most fun to prepare. I spent days reading through old Trac tickets, the wp-hackers archives, and interview transcripts. The jokes are mostly mediocre and the Photoshopping is […] Continue reading →

Posted in taxonomy, WordCamp, WordCamp NYC 2015, wordpress | Comments Off on WordCamp NYC talk on the history of the WordPress taxonomy component