Kathryn Barrett

Over the years, OSCON has become a big conference. With over 3900 registered this year, it was hard not to look at the packed hallways and sessions and think what a huge crowd it is. The number of big-name companies participating–Microsoft, Google, Dell, and even General Motors–reinforce the popular refrain that open source has come a long way; it’s all mainstream now.

Which is as it should be. And it’s been a long haul. But thinking of open source in terms of numbers and size puts us in danger of forgetting the very thing that makes open source special, and that’s the individual contributor. So while open source software has indeed found a place in almost every organization that exists, it was made possible by the hard work of real people who saw the need for it, most of them volunteering in their spare time.

The O’Reilly Open Source Awards were created to recognize and thank these individuals. It’s a community-driven effort: nominations come in from the open source community (this year there were around 50) and then are judged by the previous year’s winners. It’s not intended to be political or a popularity contest, but honest appreciation for hard work that matters. Let’s look at this year’s winners.
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