[video]
[video]
“Success of collaboration is having the right kind of people meet at the right table at the right point in time feeling adventurous, bold and forward thinking.” —
(Source: pooteeweet.org)
I have been asked this very question many times in the past three years. So far my answer always has been : “I am passionate about creating free software, building web architectures and collaborating with others”. While this is 100% true it’s not the complete answer.
A little over three years ago my involvement in the Joomla project was abruptly ended. On the 20th of October 2008 I received the following mail
… you have been effectively inactive for more then a year now. Because of this we concluded that you have no plans to be actively and constructively engaged with this team any more … We would like to thank you for your huge contributions to the project. Without you the project would absolutely not be where it is today.
Two days before, on the 18th of October, I had finished my work on the removal of legacy libraries and legacy code for Joomla 1.6. My last SVN commit to Joomla 1.5 was made on the 11th of January 2008, only 9 months earlier.
Still on 20th October 2008 my SVN access was removed. Suddenly I was no longer allowed to contribute to the very project I had put my heart and soul into building.
Almost ironically a week later I received the most valuable person award for Joomla from Packt Publishing.
What had been the focus of the past 5 years was gone, and it was devastating. I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I even thought about quitting web development and changing careers. But slowly I realised — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Joomla had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love.
And so I continued where I left off. In the past three years I founded Timble, traveled the world, spoke about the free software movement and met very talented and passionate people. Some of which I have the opportunity to work with daily. Many of which I am proud to call friends.
In those three years Nooku grew into a collaborative open source project driven by an awesome community of creative developers from all over the world. All of which drive me every single day to make great things happen.
A handful of people have personally guided me on the way. They listened, challenged me to think bigger and pushed me to move on. You know who you are. Thank you !
Forking Mambo was one of the most challenging things I have ever done. Moving an open source project had never been done before. There was no experience to lean on, no examples to learn from. Founding Joomla thought me to fail early, fail fast, fail often. My roles as project manager, lead developer and board member learned me that there are times you need to do what you feel is just, not what is expected.
In the past three years on a few occasions and when asked I have openly challenged Joomla. Some have perceived this as bashing, others have cornered it as competing. The reality is far more simple : I care !
I’m not the only one. There are many others who do. Let’s not forget we are all on the same side, we just sometimes draw the lines differently. Let us respect these differences and move together as a software community, united by the core goal of freedom and openness. Let our creative an innovative ideas flow and let us - not only - be proud on what we are building but also on the way we are building it.
The past three years have learned me to enjoy life as a flow of change, chaos and beauty. I am pretty sure that Nooku wouldn’t have happened if I had not been removed from Joomla.
I have also come to realise that when you feel you are going uphill you should change course. At the end of the development of Joomla 1.5 I was going uphill. Nooku is my change in course.
I am not sure where I am going, I don’t have any fixed plans. I will continue to do what I love : helping to architect the web, sharing my work as free software and pushing the status quo at every step of the way.
May I ask you a favor ? If you feel a compelling need to react or respond to this post I hope you will consider not to. Make a choice to challenge and lead instead. I am certain we will meet out there, wherever that might be.
[video]
“Focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” — Steve Jobs, BusinessWeek, May 25, 1998
[video]
The first weekend of September I traveled to Florianopolis, Brazil to speak at the annual Joomladay Brazil. I was among 4 international guests who the Brazilian community had nominated as keynote speakers for this years event.
Talking to organizers and community members during and after the event I learned about their concerns, frustrations and anger around the Joomla trademark processes and policies.
I learned about the creation of Joomleiros.com (a real joomleiro), the issues with the joomla.com.br domain (official open letter), the disappointment over only receiving an apology and the feeling of letdown when being pointed to just another email address by Open Source Matters, the holder of the Joomla trademark.
These issues are not new. I have heard similar frustrations from many event organizers and community members all over the world in the past years.
[video]
“We innovators, are a tribe. We may not share all of the same capabilities, strengths or knowledge, but we’ve all been through the same fires. Respect other innovators and acknowledge their scars and sacrifices. We are the sharp end of the spear, and carry the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune to prove it.” — Jeffry Phillips - Innovate on purpose
In the past 6 years Joomla has seen an immense growth capturing almost 3% of the internet. Most still see Joomla as a CMS. Even Joomla.org states :
Joomla is the worlds most popular open source content management system. With 2.7 % of the internet running on Joomla the software is used by individuals, small-sized & medium size businesses and large organizations worldwide to easily create a variety if websites and web applications.
Reality is that Joomla is no longer just a cms. After 6 years of collaborative innovation Joomla has become a web platform, extendible by over 8000 extensions build on a powerful framework.
We use this platform to build products for ourselves, for our clients, and for our peers. The framework that sit’s at it’s heart is our shared toolkit we (should) improve together so that those products can thrive.
(Source: slideshare.net)
“”Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” — Steve Jobs narrates the first Think different commercial “Here’s to the Crazy Ones”. It never aired. Richard Dreyfuss did the voiceover for the original spot that aired. However Steve’s is much better. Here is the original.
[video]
[video]
“Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Do so by removing any personal interests, emotional feelings or religious beliefs. If you are unable, respectfully step down.” — Was asked today to formulate a personal request for the upcoming Joomla Leadership Summit…