The Mandriva community is small, yes, but tight-knit. This can be evidenced by the comments in my previous blog entry and the many emails I received privately, and the many chats initiated on IRC. It has been my honor and privilege to work with you guys, and I sincerely appreciate all the extremely kind sentiments that I received. Despite my “layoff” being short-lived.
The same short-lived layoff cannot be said about two of my friends, one of which is Adam and the other I will remain nameless unless he decides to share what happened to him. The amount of support Adam has received via the cooker list and in this Open letter to the CEO (and Adam’s own Leaving thread) are astounding and if Adam is anything like me, he can’t help but appreciate the sentiments expressed.
It makes me think our community is capable of so much more if we just “fed” them properly. With a little care and feeding, it could sprout into something monumental. I mean, there are folks in the community that have been there longer than I (I’ve been working for Mandriva for 8.5 years, and was a contributor for about a year before that). There are guys there even longer who have seen the ups and downs. And they’ve stuck around. I don’t think we have properly expressed our gratitude for that so I’m going to express it now:
You guys are steadfast and you bloody rock. I can acknowledge that Mandriva would be a shadow of itself without you guys and you deserve more claps on the back and hugs than you’ve ever gotten. I can only speak for myself (but I hope I speak for many others!) when I say that the Mandriva community… despite the occasional friction (which happens in any “family”)… is truly a marvelous thing. I echo many community sentiments when it comes to Adam’s untimely termination, and having been (temporarily, and by mistake I guess) on the receiving end of that particular axe, I know how it feels (and the feeling definitely sucks). I hope in this instance the community voice can be heard (really heard) because I’ve watched a lot of friends come and go over the years, and it’s not something I have ever enjoyed. But being able to actually experience what each one of them must have felt gives me a greater appreciation for it, which makes me feel for them all the more.
Anyways, before this gets too gushy, I just wanted to express my sincere appreciation of our small, but potentially very powerful, community. Thank you guys!