Going into this October—our Most Open Month—the goal was pretty simple: We wanted more first-time contributors than any other month in our history. Although we're already well on our way to meeting that goal, we wanted to give even more people a chance to share their stories. And thus, #MyOpenStory was born:
Why did you start using open source software? Share your story with #MyOpenStory and we'll retweet!
— Open Source Way (@opensourceway) October 6, 2015
Just 24 hours into the campaign, we were blown away by the results. More than 100 Twitter users have shared their stories with #MyOpenStory so far, and dozens more showed their support with responses, favorites, and retweets. To celebrate this incredible show of support from our Twitter community, I've rounded up some highlights from our #MyOpenStory campaign from the past week.
Like so many of us, these open source users got started scratching an itch:
I started using #opensource #software trying to go further with #RAW #photography and #typography #MyOpenStory
— EduM (@EduMerch) October 6, 2015
Wanted a legitimate way to lower IT overheads of a growing business. Installed @Ubuntu & never looked back @opensourceway #MyOpenStory
— Adam Sims (@adamjsims) October 7, 2015
I started using #OpenSource from the beginning of my career. The options on the other side were just not practical #myopenstory
— Caleb Hawkins (@CalebBHawkins) October 6, 2015
Frustration with other operating systems was a factor for these users:
Lost my computer project in a virus infested windows PC in school, have adopted @openSUSE, @fedora and @debian ever since. #MyOpenStory
— Chienjo (@Harrisonova) October 7, 2015
#myopenstory Started '03 w/RH & a mission "to do what I do in Windows, in Linux". Couldn't afford new PC/Mac then. Mission accomplished!
— Drew Kwashnak (@drewscorner) October 7, 2015
This group enjoys the freedom that open source software offers:
#OpenSource changed the way I thought of #technology, the day I discovered it's free to create PDFs #AppleWoes #whythebigsecret #MyOpenStory
— Angie Walls (@awalls37) October 7, 2015
The day I fell in love with Linux is the day I started evangelizing Open Source. True freedom lies within the open community. #MyOpenStory
— Dinesh (@flexdinesh) October 6, 2015
#MyOpenStory is just starting after having been burned one too many times by corporations controlling (and mishandling) my devices
— Colin P. Hill (@Malnormalulo) October 7, 2015
These two were lucky enough to be exposed to open source software in school:
I started with linux @slackwarelinux, @debian, #OpenSource by 1996 in afternoon course at school. It's my job, passion, mission #myopenstory
— Bernardino Ciuffetti (@tuxweb) October 7, 2015
I was officially introduced to open source in secondary school. Since then I was always in favor for open source #MyOpenStory
— Open Source Feed (@opensourcefeed) October 7, 2015
This group was even luckier—they were able to turn their open source experiences into careers:
I started using open source in 2001-2002, #WordPress specifically, in order to not work a 9-5. hit that goal in 2005 #MyOpenStory
— Robert DeVore (@deviorobert) October 6, 2015
#OpenSource software got me into web design and inspired me to create a blog: two life achievements fulfilled! @opensourceway #MyOpenStory
— Mark Thomas (@designmarkgfx) October 7, 2015
#myopenstory Now, as a #Python dev, I've been working with various open source technologies for more than 2 years- part 5 - fin
— Najam Ahmed Ansari (@__n_ansari__) October 8, 2015
I definitely wanted to know more after seeing this tweet from Jonas Öberg, executive director of Free Software Foundation Europe:
#MyOpenStory Getting a call from RMS on my 21st birthday. But I actually downloaded SLS five years prior while in Swansea.
— Jonas Öberg (@jonaso) October 7, 2015
Last, but certainly not least, seeing how the open source way inspires and influences the work of so many is pretty neat:
#MyOpenStory started with @ubuntu to reuse abandoned computers that became Free software ebook machines https://t.co/fEqenc0008
— Evanpeterw (@EPWill) October 7, 2015
After years of sharing my music with others using @creativecommons licenses, I switched my operating system to Linux. #MyOpenStory
— Robert Nunnally (@Gurdonark) October 8, 2015
Inspired by these great stories and want to share your own? Tweet using #MyOpenStory, submit your article idea, or post a comment below.
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