Not a year in WordPress review

WordPress 5.9 Beta 4 was released this week. Sara Gooding over at the Tavern wrote that there are a few important changes to note in this release regarding how the WordPress admin will direct users who are exploring block themes. There is an incompatibility message for redirection depending on whether the theme is using blocks or the customizer.  The release team has determined that a 5th beta will not be necessary and the official release is scheduled for January 25, 2022. Events The call for speakers is now open for WordCamp Europe 2022. We will have to keep an eye on how this in-person event will be safely organized. It appears that you will also be able to participate online. From Our Contributors and Producers A software vendor has lost a civil case in a first-time ruling by Italian courts on open source licensing. The case involved Ovation’s GPL licensed Dynamic.ooo software, which is a plugin for the open-source Elementor platform for building WordPress websites.  The software was distributed without including acknowledgment of the original work, including information about changes tthat he defendants had made to the software, and with no mention of the software’s copyright holders.  There is a fine levied against the defendants every day until the software is brought into compliance.  WPCS.io, an Amsterdam-based provider of the world’s first multi-tenant WordPress cloud platform to create SaaS solutions with WordPress, announced that they are raising a substantial seed investment from Arches Capital. WPEngine announced on their blog that they have acquired the Frost theme, adding to their open-source cache of WordPress solutions.  This theme was created by Brian Gardner and focuses on block editing and the full site editor. Gardner re-joined WPEngine in late September of this year as Principal Developer Advocate. This ended his “gap year” after staying with WPEngine during a transition period of the hosting company acquiring StudioPress, a company he was a partner in previously. WPEngine will be issuing full refunds to active customers. Matt Mullenweg lays out a debate over the future of the internet. Mullenweg, Automattic CEO and WordPress founder, joins ‘TechCheck’ to discuss the future of their internet. The WordPress developer explains the difference between open vs. closed platforms and which will see the most growth. This will be interesting to watch next year. Interesting TikTok news Is it possible that TikTok brought more traffic than Google this year? The viral video app seems to be on a high, finishing the year with the most cumulative internet traffic of any domain in the world — more so even than Google, which typically holds the number-one spot. Cloudflare reviewed how the Internet went for TikTok in 2021.  Next up Michelle Frechette with a year-end wrap-up. Don’t forget to read Michelle’s contributor post: In-person events: The good, the bad, and the fearful.