I guess we all sometimes feel burned out by the goings of the free software community. Endless discussions about the technical superiority of one solution over another, a feeling of the community sometimes being overly narrow in its view of the world beyond or the amount of negative feedback tending to heavily outnumbering the good or dealing with licensing issues might all be things that steal energy. Yes, there are many reasons for sometimes wanting to throw in the towel and look for both work and entertainment a different sector of society.

Yet many of us have stuck around for quite a long time now and I guess there are many reasons for it, like good friends, jobs, professional pride and so on. Another burst of energy comes from the times when you see free software having a positive impact on people’s life, like when Wingo showed me how they had deployed Linux at schools across Namibia. But it doesn’t need to be as big as that, today for instance it put a smile on my face seing a mail from someone who had been using the Flumotion streaming server to let family members living remotely take part in the Christmas festivities at their family home. Not exactly a use that changes the way of the world, but it did give me a sense of joy seing someone being able to use our technology in a way that enriched their lives. Thanks for sharing that.