Hi All, Following an extended period of low activity, including two attempts to drum up interest amongst committers for starting labs, the board asked whether Labs PMC believe that Labs has any further role to play. Labs was initially proposed as a way to counter the pattern of existing committers going to SourceForge to kick off experimental projects when ASF resources could be made available for that purpose. That pattern has not existed for a number of years, and additionally both the ASFs adoption of Github, and the relaxation of the board's stance on "sub-projects" have rendered Labs' original purpose obsolete.
Given that background a recent vote on the PMC list has indicated that a majority of active PMC members support retiring the project, and a motion will be prepared for the August ASF Board Meeting. I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who has participated in Labs over the years, a list that makes impressive reading, and I would encourage you to see this as a positive move. The fact is that today, compared with whenever it was that we started this*, it is not only possible for individuals to host open source projects in ways that are consistent with the Apache Way, but it is easy, and popular. Everyone from students to huge corporations know what Open Source is and are spinning up projects of all sizes and flavours, many of which find their way to the foundation. This change has not happened by accident, it is the results of many years of evangelism, determination, and litigation by many people including many of the subscribers to this list. The fact that Labs is no longer required is a small, but significant, signal that Apache does indeed change the world. Be proud, and Thank You! Danny * Labs was officially created 2006-11-15 (14 years ago)
