Nicol WistreichFeb 20

Mike Little: the British co-founder of WordPress you’ve probably never heard of (but should)…

In the story of WordPress –the tool that powers 45% of the web, including 10s of 1000s of film sites– Mike Little is Steve Wozniak to Matt Mullenweg's Steve Jobs. Matt polished the interface, the marketing and curly quotes – while Mike added the blogroll, rebuilt the code, and added the one-click easy-upgrade that's been central to its success. But unlike Woz, Mike never had shares in Matt's $7bn business – or even a job there. He didn't know you could make a living from WordPress until he turned up at the first UK WordCamp. He hasn’t been knighted or hall-of-famed, and isn’t known outside of old WordPress developer circles. Is this because he’s a cheerful and easy-going northerner from Stockport? Because he didn’t have a degree? Because he’s black? I don’t know. All I know for sure, is this is someone who anyone in tech, or who uses WordPress, should know about.

https://25.netribution.co.uk/nic/mike-little-the-british-co-founder-of-wordpress-youve-probably-never-heard-of/

Show threadNorthern ScrubFeb 26

@nic Probably because he's from the north. Up here we're used to doing the legwork and getting little in return.

Sounds like a political gripe, but its true. The attitude seeps intk almost every aspect of life. We seem to get on with shit, put the hours in, and just... Live with it. Plenty other parts of the world like that too. The businessy rich hotspots would be gone in a matter of weeks if we stopped.

Show threadNicol Wistreich

@northernscrub I’m sure it’s a big factor. Also not going to university (with someone who’s now a Newsnight/etc editor). And being really nice. And race. And not being American. I wouldn’t want to guess which of these had more impact – it’s likely they all compounded each other over the years.

But growing up in Yorkshire then having split my adult life in the UK between London, Bristol and Glasgow, 100% being from the north is a factor.

Feb 26 at 10:07amWeb