We've been using ExpressionEngine since it's early days. We've always been a fan of the way ExpressionEngine (EE) allows you to customize the author experience inside the content management system. This aspect has been one of the platform's biggest selling points with our clients. As much as we love ExpressionEngine, we can't deny that EE has gone through some changes.

EllisLab, the creators of ExpressionEngine, sold the product to Digital Locations in 2018. Digital Locations proceeded to make EE open source instead of requiring a licensing fee as they had in the past. In October of 2019, ExpressionEngine announced again that it had been sold. The new owners of EE are Packet Tide, the company behind EEHarbor - makers of most ExpressionEngine add-ons. This news came as a surprise to the EE community, who had already experienced a lot of change with the product in one years time. The good news is that Packet Tide has been an active part of the EE community since its inception. Because of this, we're hopeful that better days are ahead for ExpressionEngine.

As Packet Tide takes the reigns of EE's product development, they have already stated that they are working on ExpressionEngine 6.0 which will include several new features. EE has been long overdue for a total overhaul and we're hopeful that version 6 does not disappoint.

We're also hopeful that with Packet Tide/EEHarbor's development team behind the product, we will see new native feature introduced like: 

• Fluid fields (similar to Craft's Matrix blocks)
• A proper WYSIWYG editor (please get rid of the RTE editor)
• A reimagined, user friendly file manager
• Redesigned drag and drop uploads
• Structured navigation architectures built-in natively  
• More integration with varoius add-ons 
• A well designed responsive dashboard
• A highly improved admin experience

Only time will tell what the future holds for EE but we're hopeful the team behind the product is receptive to what the EE community needs and wants so that the product can once again flourish.