Ten years is a long time. Exactly ten years ago we were sitting in a cramped office room in Espoo with Jukka Zitting, frantically trying to put a release together. We had been building a web platform for our living history group, and it had become useful for others too.

We both were Linux users, and back then the concept of Open Source was becoming really popular. The Mozilla browser had been opened, and there were promising new projects like GNOME out there. Therefore it felt natural that our tool, too, should be released as free software.

And so we did, with a simple web site and an announcement:

Midgard is freely-available platform for creating powerful web applications. It is fully based on Open Source software, giving you freedom to create your solutions in an open environment. Midgard is the tool for creating, modifying and maintaining dynamic database-enabled web services.

Midgard already has a quite good set of features for creating powerful web sites, and is being used with successful results by some commercial and uncommercial organizations. But this is not where the development will end; rather, the development team also has more ambitious goals about revolutionizing the way people think about web development.

Indeed the development didn't end there. New people started joining the project, there was a company that invested in it, another company that contributed a component architecture, and so on. Soon we had an active and dedicated community working on Midgard. And that is the way it has remained - a project run by multiple companies and people, supporting multiple languages and character sets. We even made the dream of having Midgard in our pockets a reality.

I've been with the project the whole time, and it has given much. During these years I've traveled to Europe, Asia, Africa and America many times to tell about the project. I've presented our work in several prestigious universities. It has put the bread on my table. And most importantly, I've made friends with people from all around the world.

I don't think much of that would have happened if I had worked with proprietary software. The community, the friendships, and the opportunities are all something that makes the field of free software unique.

Now, ten years into the project it is time to celebrate the successes. And then dedicate ourselves efforts to the new generation of the project, Midgard2, released just before the 10th Anniversary. Thanks to everybody involved! I hope you will all join me in raising a toast for The Midgard Project.

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