Dear Community,
Dear OpenOffice.org marketing contacts,
Dear OpenOffice.org marketing project members,
this e-mail is to inform you that I hereby, effective immediately, fully
step back from all my roles and duties within the OpenOffice.org
project, including those as marketing project lead and German marketing
contact.
I would like to take the chance to say a few very personal words to all
of you.
I had the honour to be a part of this project for six and a half years
now -- serving as German marketing contact since March 2005, as
marketing project co-lead since July 2007, and as marketing project lead
since January 2010. Not only did I learn many things for life, have been
part of exciting times (remembering moments like the long anticipated
release of OpenOffice.org 2.0 back in October 2005), and had the
privilege of being part in one of the largest open source projects
worldwide. Even more, I also experienced wonderful teachers, brilliant
colleagues, and -- most important and above all -- made true friends for
life. It's not a secret if I say that this project has given me the
busiest but also the most exciting moments in life so far, and I am
proud and thankful for the time I had the honour to spend here. No
matter where my future ways will lead me, my time in the project always
will be a very important part of my life, something I look back to,
being very proud and very thankful.
We now have exciting times again.
Many of you have seen the recent announcement of The Document Foundation
and LibreOffice, a so very important step and major initiative that I am
proud of being a part in, helping to shape the future of the Community,
to bring not only our software, but also our project to the next level.
I fully stand behind this step, and I envision a future even brighter
than the past has been, a next decade even more successful than the
previous one which passed by in, it feels, just a moment of time.
I leave with no bad feelings at all, and I still feel being a part of
this Community, not leaving you alone. It comes with great sadness to
hear the concerns the step we've taken has led to for some people, that
there is the fear of conflicts of interest, thinking about two different
projects and products. I don't share these feelings at all, but even if
I did, we, after all, have so many things in common - independent from
any name, to me there is one joint vision, one joint goal, and there is
one Community. Differences are in the way we want to achieve these
goals, in how we would like to have the project governed - but all
powers we invest to fight each other right now can much more wisely be
spend with doing good and positive things, and so I want to move on.
These last weeks have been extremely exciting, exhausting, busy and
interesting. Many of us need time to relax, to think, and to understand
what is happening, what is going on. My last wish being on duty in this
project is an invitation to all of you for next year, to talk about
where we stand, and what options we have. Even if right now it doesn't
look likely, I am deep inside absolutely convinced that there will be
chances and options of working together, united. Call me a dreamer, but
remember my words next year. ;-)
I hereby would like to hand over all of my duties in the marketing
project to my colleague Peter Junge, whom I propose for the role as
marketing project lead from now on.
Talking of Peter, there are dozens of people who I personally would like
to express my deepest thankfulness to. Counting and naming them would be
an undoable task, as there are so many, and chances are that I forget
someone - so, let me take this chance of thanking you for what we have
achieved the past years. For what we have shaped, formed, created, for
what we have enjoyed together, and for all those wonderful moments we
spent together.
I will not make a recommendation on which mailing lists you should
subscribe to in the future, which project you should join. Instead, I
would like to quote something I read on the German lists: Look at both,
ask questions, be critical when it is necessary, and decide for yourself.
In whatever way, I invite all of you for cooperation, and I am very sure
that our paths will cross in the future.
I am very much looking forward to that.
Florian
--
Florian Effenberger <flo...@openoffice.org>
Tel: +49 8341 99660880 | Mobile: +49 151 14424108
Skype: floeff | Twitter/Identi.ca: @floeff
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