I'm not by any stretch the community manager of this new project, AOO, but am like many of you on this list part of it, a member. And as we are shouting out and offering praise, I'd like to thank the community and the Apache group for what has been accomplished.
The reviews keep pouring in. Do a simple Google search and you'll see what I mean. And they have been trending positive, at least as of last night, -0500 UTC. The first year is always the hardest, as we have to find our roles and discover the ways to collaborate with the others--and also to learn what has to be done in all regards, from infrastructure, code, governance, and identity. For me, it was an odd and sometimes difficult year, as I discovered how much I'd invested--emotionally, intellectually, socially--in OpenOffice. That it has come out so well and that the product I use every day (and which never crashes on me) is showing itself renewed, refreshed is terrific. But even better is that the collaborators working on it have formed and are forming a real community, one whose governance is open and transparent, one in which evident merit marked by doing is the true measure and one in which everyone is eligible to show their merits. Thanks then not only to Andrew R. and the mentors, but to those who make up the actuality of the Apache way by doing. Cheers, Louis
