Wind of Change

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 <[email protected]>
Tel: +49 8341 99660880 | Mobile: +49 151 14424108
Skype: floeff | Twitter/Identi.ca: @floeff