2006 when I had to choose a content management system of my future. Before I programmed in comparision to Joomla! rudamentary CMSs myself, but was overwelmed by the amount of work. It takes constant effort to keep a system up to date through browser changes, hardware changes, php, mysql version changes etc.

I wanted an Open Source CMS that was a living, breathing and growing community, so I could change things I wanted on my own and the burden of maintaining a good  source code was put on several shoulders and not just one. A little bit like democracy - you can vote and engage yourself so the future will be brighter for all.

So I decided to install all different CMSs I could lay my hands on ... the winner by far was Joomla! I loved it right away - that love remains today.

When I went to my first community event I was hooked also on the lovely people.

So intimidated by all the gurus I still brought up enough courage to go to my first jandbeyond ... what a mind blowing experiance. Joomla! is certainly a great CMS but the people behind the scenes are evern greater, the spirit one can encounter here is unmatched.  It is a cliche but the vibe there was so good that I decided to do more than "just" make my living out of planing, creating, deploing and administering Joomla! Websites. So I try to do at least some Joomla! sessions myself to give some knowledge back, that I so freely received.

So I just want to thank all the contributors to this fantastic project, no matter if it is translation, code, patches, api, articles, sessions at events, templates ... 
THANK YOU and a big HUG to all of you. You made my live easier, more enjoyable, I can make a living for my family give other people work, so they can feed their families too.