I just got back from the outstanding Open FSharp conference where I got to reconnect with and meet a bunch of people I’ve followed or with whom I’ve worked on various OSS projects. I’m energized, excited to contribute, etc. Yet, in the midst of the conference, the first tweets eventually leading up to Henrik Feldt‘s post appeared. I was and continue to be really sad about what he’s going through, and it took the edge off my enthusiasm (but only a little). Henrik has been a huge contributor and work horse in the community and created some incredibly valuable libraries. He’s also great to work with in OSS, and I am going to miss his presence.

However, I cannot agree with Henrik’s conclusions about the community. I do recognize he’s expressing some valid emotional turmoil. I have no problem with the abundance of options the community explores and think it’s a sign of a healthy community. I also think the catalyst to his decision is mostly based on misunderstanding, but I reserve the right to change my mind; I’m basing this exclusively on Twitter and a blog post and haven’t actually spoken to Henrik. I have spoken to several others in the past who saw their projects more or less hijacked by Microsoft. Henrik mentioned several of these: MonoRail, OpenWrap, etc. The project leads faced animosity and/or apathy from Microsoft as their projects were replaced and ideas taken without recognition of the work they had done or much inclusion in the process.