I am pleased to announce that today we have become an Apache Software Foundation (ASF) sponsor.
I firmly believe that actions speak louder than words. This clearly demonstrates our commitment to open source and also our belief that the ASF is the right place for Subversion. Any claims that we are at odds with the ASF should now be put to rest.
The ASF is a non-profit, volunteer-run foundation and this will help aid organizational, legal and financial support for a broad range of Apache licensed projects including Subversion. Other Apache Software Foundation sponsors include Google, Yahoo!, and Facebook, we are proud to join them. We are extremely grateful to the ASF. This is a ‘safe home’ – Apache have led the way in community open source development since 1999 and they are no stranger to mature, pervasive open source technology like Subversion.
This announcement coincides with the inaugural Subversion Live Conferences. Apache Subversion has certainly come a long way since its inception in 2000. With over 5 million users it is recognized as the leader in Standalone Software Configuration Management. Indeed, a recent Eclipse Foundation survey found that over 58% of Eclipse users use Subversion, making it the dominant source code management product by a huge margin.
Subversion is no longer a young upstart and we believe it has become critical to talk to Subversion users. We must uncover the needs of enterprises both large and small. Subversion may be mature but that does not mean that innovation stops. The last 11 years (has it really been that long?) have been amazing. To become the dominant technology in this space is the software equivalent of scaling Mount Everest.
Together, as a community we can do a lot more. May Subversion continue to lead the way for another 11 years and beyond!