Honestly, I'd be all for a fork. Wordpress is dying a slow death. The only way forward I see is to break with the history that's holding it back and make radical changes to its architecture. Matt will never do that. Perhaps WP Engine can.
It's strange death when the WP market share is at over 40% of all websites [1] and still growing (though slowly). Lots of people might not like it, but saying it's dying is more of a wish than a fact.