After announcing plans earlier to breathe some life into bbPress, the core WordPress.org team has announced that they are ceasing development of the blog platform in order to redouble their efforts on WP’s red headed step child.
For the first time in over 8 years, the core development team is not working on the next version of WordPress, but rather on an initiative that’s been dubbed “3.org.”
3.org is a very appropriately named project that is focused on building and polishing the surrounding elements of WordPress rather than on WordPress itself. Part of this initiative is the conversion of bbPress from a standalone platform into a neat little WordPress plugin. I’ve volunteered to lead that initiative, and wanted to take a moment to explain what that means for BuddyPress, bbPress, and what you can expect for the next few months. (Official BuddyPress Blog)
While this doesn’t mean that WordPress is pulling resources away from their mobile front, it probably means that self hosted WP users may have to wait a little longer before Automattic exports the reblog feature to WP.org fans.
The team’s plan is to have bbPress operate as a stand alone platform independently of BuddyPress.
They also want it to function in conjunction with both BuddyPress and WordPress by removing “the geek factor” of installing bbPress within either service.
WordPress pushing to have the bbPress via plugin form ready for beta testing by September 15th (plus or minus a few days), as well as a final version by the end of the year (hopefully before Christmas).
Although this news will not please hard core WordPress fans who care nothing about forums or social networks (services that bbPress and BuddyPress offer, respectively), it will excite the tiny bbPress community who have been begging for attention since the alpha was first released.
