April Fools: CKEditor No Longer Open Source
Editor's note: The following is an April Fools Day joke... CKEditor is not going commercial (and has no intention of ever going commercial) and CKSource is not cooperating with any government agency!
As of July 1, 2014, CKEditor will no longer be open source. Notwithstanding the various federally subcontracted corporate entities, which count among some of the project’s most diligent users, CKEditor has also become a popular choice among various American .gov and .mil domains over the years, mainly due to the editor’s strong accessibility, security and customization options.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has strict Interagency Security Committee Standards and Best Practices, which include the tools used in its various branches. To maintain the integrity and security of its infrastructure, the U.S. government has reached out to various companies with the intent to adapt its tools to the standards laid out by the Risk Management Process for Federal Facilities.
Due to the close partnership between CKEditor and the U.S. government, CKSource, founder of the CKEditor project, has decided to close the WYSIWYG editor's source code. This will give the DHS a more uniformed and controlled deployment of CKEditor in its various sites, CRMs, mailing systems and applications.
When asked to comment about the decision to make CKEditor purely closed source, Project Lead and CKSource owner, Frederico Knabben, stated:
“The prospect of effectively turning CKSource into a federally sponsored company might not appeal to the open source community, but the reality of the situation forces us to abide with DHS wishes. Collectively, the US government and its various bodies represent our largest base, so noncompliance is not an option."
Adapting CKEditor to every possible platform has been a daunting task for the DHS over the years. A perfect example is Graphenica’s implementation of CKEditor in the company’s numerous military applications, which have failed to comply with ISC standards. Mr. Knabben explains that this new partnership will be "a welcomed change in focus for every interested party."
Important note: The switch to closed source is retroactive. As of July 1, 2014, all CKEditor installations and implementations will have to be removed. The CKEditor team would like thank all the contributors over the years and we apologize in advance for any inconvenience this might cause the community.
Editor's note: This was obviously an April Fools joke... CKEditor is not going commercial (and has no intention of ever going commercial) and CKSource is not cooperating with any government agency! We appreciate the comments expressed by the community (good or bad). It shows you truly appreciate the fact that CKEditor is open source. Seeing that there are people behind those concerns makes the team that much more motivated, so thank you!
Leave comments below on what you thought about the prank. Did you find it funny? Was it too much? Do you want something even more daring next year?