Reading today’s post by Miguel about the 10 years anniversary of Ximian’s incorporation brought back memories of a time when I wasn’t as involved with open source… a time when I hated my job and would do anything to score a job with a Linux company. I had decided to attend a Microsoft boot camp in Massachusetts and since I was going to be around Boston, for some reason I decided to send Miguel an email asking him if he would mind meeting with me and maybe grabbing a cup of coffee. It was back in early 2005 (I blogged about it here) and I was such a huge fanboy of Miguel and all that he represented.

Ever since that day, I had the opportunity to meet Miguel 2 more times while attending some of the open source conferences. Our conversations were always very brief as he was always being mobbed and there wasn’t much room to keep a normal conversation without him being interrupted by someone requesting his attention. He was always very cordial and always complemented me for not having an accent when I talked (he knew I was Brazilian but I don’t think he realized I had lived here in the US for quite some time).

So I never really got to hang out with him and I never got a chance to tell him how important his work with Mono was to keep me motivated while trying to transition from being strictly a Microsoft developer to trying out C# and writing cross platform applications. I remember telling my friends that I would love to work for him and would even work free of charge just to be under his tutelage! Alas, when you’re a father you have to make sacrifices and my plan to ask for a job with no pay wasn’t going to cut it!

Anyhow, I just wanted to say to all the early GNOMErs, Ximians and whatever else you may call yourselves these days that I appreciate your hard work, perseverance and foresight! The open source world would be at a loss without you guys!