Tuesday, October 27, 2009

What's happening with Eclipse recently?

It seems that recent times have seen some disturbing (to me) trends in the Eclipse community, most notably the loss (or significant reduction of involvement) of several key individuals. I count myself in that group, since my 5+ month search for Eclipse-related development contracts came up dry and I ended up taking a local job that is totally unrelated to Eclipse. It seems that Eclipse has been bleeding valuable talent in the past year or so - or is it just me?

The most recent happening that concerns me is Bjorn's announcement yesterday that he has been locked out of involvement in producing EclipseCon 2010. While I'm sure the conference planning is in good hands, this seems like a strange decision given the past success; the cynic in me can't help but wonder if it has anything to do with Bjorn's recent outspokenness and willingness to voice controversial thoughts. Let's hope not...
Mike M. commented on Bjorn's blog posting with a most-politically-correct "thank you for your service," but that is a far cry from an open explanation. I think, given his contributions to and love for the community, that Bjorn deserves more of an explanation. I am certain that the community deserves a bit of explanation.

2 comments:

Ed Merks said...

It's not entirely clear that personal issues ought to be discussed openly in public.

Eric Rizzo said...

@Ed: In general I agree; but in this case the decision is relevant to the community since the foundation exists to serve us. I would expect personal issue to not play a major part in the decision about who is best at organizing this important event.
Perhaps the explanation is perfectly reasonable and professional; if so, where is that explanation? If not, well then we have a problem, IMO.