Something that fascinates me is the lifecycle of WordPress theme shops, plugins, and the individuals behind them. You see, WordPress has been around long enough now that we’ve seen the rise and fall (or simply closing up shop) of more than a handful of WordPress-centric businesses.
We’ve also seen some long-time users, developers, and designers also “move on” to greener pastures, or so they say. Part of this is simply based on the individuals personal preference and part of this might actually have to do with the changing ecosystem and climate.
Perhaps it’s a combination of it all. There are some, like the team behind Dropplets, who have done more than just complain about the issues and have decided to do something about it.
It’s particularly fascinating when there’s somewhat of a phoenix-like phenomena; where something apparently dies but is then resurrected stronger than before. A recent instance of this is with Download Monitor, which after over half-a-million downloads was retired.
But apparently it’s been reborn:
Mike Jolley has resurrected the plugin announcing a new BETA:
v4 is a complete rewrite – in fact I am still debating the idea of calling this a ’1.0′ (which may also prevent legacy users updating without testing!). Gone are the custom tables and UI, custom post types are being utilised as well as other more modern practices, and the plugin is way more efficient.
He did this in secret and plans not only some new features but a new way of doing business. For starters, support will only be for bugs and usage instead of customization help. There are also some plans on a paid extensions marketplace or something like that an even themes.
Oh, and don’t worry, you don’t have to be surprised by this resurrection as you can jump into the code today and take a look for yourself – take a look here at the GitHub repo.
The original Download Monitor got a lot of attention and use and I won’t be surprised if this one does as well. Only time will tell, though, if it makes it beyond it’s infancy and into the loving arms of users everywhere.
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