Wizard of WordPress, part two: When open source fails
In part two of my interview with Matt Mullenweg (see also part one) of WordPress and Automattic, we discussed the release of WordPress 2.2, including its new widgets and Ajax-enhanced interface.
I asked Mullenweg what his favorite widgets were and although he said he "doesn't like most widgets," he did call out some of the blogosphere utilities like Sphere (review) and Technorati.
No conversation with Mullenweg would be complete without a discussion of the WordPress antispam utility, Akismet -- a service inspired by the young developer's mother. I also find it interesting that while Mullenweg is an ardent booster of open-source development, Akismet is closed. Watch the interview to see why.
Other topics covered: the pressure of running a service that people make their living on, the relationship with Automattic CEO Tony Schneider, and the goodness of what "Web 2.0" stands for. Plus, Matt's favorite Web 2.0 sites and his tip for keeping multiple computers in sync.
Rafe Needleman writes about start-ups, new technologies, and Web 2.0 products, as editor of CNET's Webware. E-mail Rafe. 
