mattmullenweg

Yahoo Interviews Matt Mullenweg

Yahoo had the opportunity to have a conversation with Matt Mullenweg when he stopped by to talk with Yahoo! bloggers about the current and future state of WordPress. Some of the topics that were covered in the interview:

  • Turning 24
  • Surprising uses of WordPress
  • The next big WordPress release (new features)
  • Scaling Automattic and WordPress.com
  • bbPress (Automattic’s message board software)
  • PHP4 vs. PHP5
  • PHP vs. other languages for web development

Some interesting things that I picked up from the interview are as follows:

  • Lots of websites are using the core of WordPress for other applications.
  • 2.5 is going to be the largest release since 1.2
  • Lots of things that WordPress users were used to have been reworked.
  • WordPress is going for an even more slimlined, simplified user experience.
  • Automattic still employs 18 people. 14 of those 18 people deal with coding.
  • WordPress.com is still growing by leaps and bounds. WordPress.com seems to be hosting a number of savvy or high trafficked blogs.
  • Talkpress will indeed be a hosted version of BB Press. It will be looked at as an experiment that might or might not be successful. BB Press will reach 1.0 this year.
  • 2.5 won’t contain database changes, it will mostly deal with the use intgerface.
  • PHP 4 compatibility with WordPress will not be broken anytime in the near future.

Going To WordCamp Dallas – Are You?

The other day, I happen to purchase a ticket to WordCamp Dallas. The ticket cost me $20 and the event will mark the first conference I have ever been able to attend. The event is being organized by Charles Stricklin, host of the WordPress Podcast. If you want to know more about what WordCamp is, check out the post I wrote for WeblogToolsCollection.com called What Is WordCamp?

The event will be featured by some interesting speakers/speeches such as:

  • Matt Mullenweg on WordPress 2.5 and Beyond
  • 45 Ways To Power Up Your Blog by John Pozadzides
  • How to prevent, detect and stop content theft by Jonathan Bailey
  • Cali Lewis and Neal Campbell
  • C’mon, Let’s Talk! Building influence and interaction with blogging by Liz Strauss
  • WordPress Power Tips by Lorelle Van Fossen
  • SEO For Bloggers by Chris Smith
  • Aaron Brazell
  • A panel of people to discuss the business of blogging: Mark Ghosh, Liz Strauss, and Aaron Brazell
  • Testing With WordPress by Jacob Santos

I’m pretty stoked about going to an event where people want to meet me and vice versa. I’ll be able to meet Ronald Huereca in person as well as, Charles Stricklin, Mark Ghosh, Lorelle Van Fossen, Matt Mullenweg and others. I plan on taking quite a few photos along with some video clips of the event. If I can manage to get a voice recorder, I also plan on getting a couple of interviews completed and then turning that into a WordPress Weekly episode.

If you are attending the event, let me know.