we’re slowly approaching RIOT’s 10th anniversary. However, the question remains which date exactly we pick as the birth date for our beloved operating system. I dug a little bit in old mails and found that the original idea of RIOT was born on November 6, 2012 (during IETF 85). We then decided on the name RIOT in the early days of December 2012 (I couldn’t figure the exact day). The devel mailing list was created on December 10, 2012, the Github repository was created on December 19. The first official release (2013.08) has been published on August 13, 2013.
Which of these dates should we consider as the “official” birthday? Or do you think we should something completely else?
Good question. We have a variety of choices indeed. We could also add as candidates the dates of the first RIOT report was published (16 Jan 2013) or when the first conference paper/poster was presented (April 14th 2013).
Let’s be pragmatic and pick the biggest bang for the buck, depending on what we organize around the anniversary?
I’d say the creation of the Github repository would be a good point. Though the code base existed before in other forms, this is basically the moment when the code came out under its current name, so when the “product rolled out” ;-). Everything else before just seems like preparation to me (like painting the walls of the baby’s nursery). The date would also align nicely with a community-wide Christmas party, just before the holidays (even though, at least for FU, it would already be in the “official” uni-wide vaccation).
The first release, 2013.08, already seems a bit late.
Either of those dates could of course also be a good candidate, honoring more the academic side of RIOT + it better aligns with the release cycle . Party-wise, January 16th sounds more like a belated Christmas party or maybe a “welcome back from holidays” party, while April 14th wouldn’t that much align with official holidays that are significant for the RIOT community overall as well (I do not remember any particular dropdown in activity during easter or passover or other holidays in that time of year as the “change of year” holidays usually cause…).
So in summary, I would say either December 19th or January 16th, though planning-wise, I think January 16th is better to handle for most people.
They are all good dates. Why have just one party?
I’d say use the date which is most useful for the particular party being planned.
But, if you have write something down, I would go with either Nov. 6,2012, or Dec. 19.
I will note that the movie and book for 2001 disagree by like 14 months as to what date HAL9000 was born. Back in university, we tried to have a party, went with the earlier book date, played the movie on that date, and were all… Another party next year?
. Party-wise, January 16th sounds more like a belated Christmas party or maybe a “welcome back from holidays” party, while April 14th wouldn’t that much align with official holidays that are significant for the RIOT community overall as well (I do not remember any particular dropdown in activity during easter or passover or other holidays in that time of year as the “change of year” holidays usually cause…).