Putting the keyboard to rest…

2007-01-31

It’s been a long time since I’ve been active in the Free Software world. Indeed, 2006 was a peak in my opensource involvement, with the release of the second edition of my book being the climax.

opensource involvement

the second edition of my book

But, at the end of the year, I felt the need to live a bit less in front of my computer. So I unsubscribed from nearly all mailing-lists I was subscribed to, I stopped a lot of things. I don’t know how long this will last but I realize I don’t miss too much this part of my virtual life.

When I was first contacted to beta-test Ubuntu in 2004, there was a huge need for people. That’s also why I wrote the first French FAQ about Ubuntu on my own wiki, that’s why I contributed a bit to translations then to bug triaging and other things.

Conf

Now, the Ubuntu community is growing every day and is really huge. There are a lot of people younger than me, more talented than me, with more time on their hand and a lot more motivation. They are doing things way better I could ever do.

So, I’ll probably let my keyboard rest for a few months. This doesn’t mean I will never be connected. I will try to blog more often, I will continue to spread Ubuntu love around me and where it is needed and I will continue to make conferences if asked. The last one was in Louvain-la-Neuve, the 14th of November. I had a great time and it seems that people attending the conference too. I like that!

14th of November

In all those years in the Free Software community, what I’m ashamed about:

• Not finishing Conseil (yet?). I’m must admit that working without XML-RPC or any sort of interface was too frustrating.
• Not doing my job for Ubuntu-be. I had a lot of motivation at start but, unfortunately, it happened that the following months were quite unexpected. Hopefully, Mark, Jan, Cédric and all the others are doing a better job that I would have done. Thanks you guys J
• I apologize for being rude with Richard Stallman on this post. Reading it after a few months, I realize I was really too angry to write something good. I still consider that the talk of RMS was bad and that himself was really rude that day. But it doesn’t mean I have to be rude myself nor that he’s rude everyday. So, Richard, if you ever read that, I will be happy to offer you a cup of tea[1] someday (at FOSDEM 2007?).
• Not finishing all things I’ve started. That’s why I don’t start anything anymore and I reduce my involvement everywhere.

What I’m really proud of:

Conseil

Ubuntu-be

this post

• Publishing a book (two editions!)
• Receiving mails that thank me. Simply…
• Reading comments posted on my blog from people who seem to like what I write. They continue to read me even if their comments are sometimes negatives. Thanks readers J
• Hearing people tell me that I’m the one who convinced them to switch to Linux and/or that without my help or my book, they would not be able to use Linux every day.
• Hearing people saying that they have read my book from the first page to the last just as a novel.

Kicker

A few days ago, I switched completely my neighbours from Windows to Ubuntu. I explained them some things, the day after I had to solve some simple problems then, this week-end, I noticed that they were very happy, discovering youtube, emailing friends in other countries. They invited me for a dinner in a restaurant and we had a nice time playing table soccer[2] for hours.

book

table soccer

Yes, Ubuntu is also about having great times in real life. I wish you a lot of those moments for 2007…

Notes

[1] it seems that we both share a passion for tea

[2] in my country, it’s called “kicker”

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