David, Good for you and congratulations. You are making the right move and it looks exciting.
Jeff On Sep 23, 2013, at 8:11 PM, David Blevins <[email protected]> wrote: > You may have seen today's announcement :) Before the day closes -- I *still* > have to finish my presentation for tomorrow!! -- I want give a quick note to > my fellow TomEE creators on what I hope Tomitribe means for all of you. > > This week last year I quietly left IBM after 7 years to do something I > thought was critical, vital, and ultimately had to be done. It was a hard > decision and one that took quite a long while to make. I worked with > wonderful people, on open source, was handsomely paid and traveled the world. > So why on earth would I leave such an amazing job? To be quite honest, I > want those same things for everyone here. > > I am offered amazing jobs and opportunities all the time -- some pretty > difficult ones to turn down. Some TomEE related some Java EE or other > related. In fact there've been a few big names sniffing around this project. > Try as I might, though, I was never able to get those offers extended to > people in this community who I feel work just as hard and are just as > important. My dream is to work with all of you as much as possible. > > It became abundantly clear to me that the only way this would be possible is > if I made it happen. It isn't my natural inclination to do this kind of > thing and I've found I've grown quite a lot over the last year from the > challenge pulling this into existence. It has taken significant amount of my > time away from actual development, but the sacrifice is worth it if it can > mean more time for all of you some day. > > We all love this project, want more time to devote to it and to those who use > it, and I'm not stopping till I can make that happen. I've had the joy of > working on open source on a near full-time basis for over 10 years and > nothing has brought me more joy than the times when there are many active > faces all pitching in. It isn't the software I love, it's the community, > it's you. > > People have already started to get mistaken, saying "So Tomitribe created > TomEE?" My answer is no, you have it backwards. TomEE created Tomitribe. > > Tomitribe isn't going to be a 50 person company over night, but I hope with > all of your support we can get there. > > Open source is ultimately an act of optimism and sacrifice. You've given so > much to this project and I want to give back. You deserve it. > > > -David >
