Dan Bricklin hit his big milestone, with the release of wikiCalc 1.0.
Now that wikiCalc has made the step to version 1.0 status, it is time to look to the future. There are many important features to be added and many people to bring into the project so that it can flourish. I intend to continue devoting a lot of time to this product.
Here's what will happen next: As I wrote back last June, Socialtext is going to integrate wikiCalc functionality into their wiki system and provide hosting and support to those that want it. They are also funding an open source project around the wikiCalc code so that I can move the product forward as part of a community.
This wikiCalc 1.0 code will form the base release to start what Socialtext is calling the SocialCalc project. While the Software Garden release of wikiCalc is covered under the GPL 2.0 license, Software Garden is the author of the entire wikiCalc product and owner of the copyright. There have been no "contributions". This will change with the SocialCalc codebase. That code will be developed much more in the open and will accept contributions from others (subject to my approval for now) who will hold the copyright to their contributions. My development work on new features will be going into SocialCalc, and Socialtext will be providing a lot of developer time, too, so that is where the future action will be. SocialCalc will be released under a Socialtext Public License that, being based on the Mozilla Public License 1.1, may be more appropriate for some companies who have issues with the GPL. (For users that want code covered under the GPL, this wikiCalc version 1.0 will always be available under that license.) There will be more news about SocialCalc at a later time.
For me, this is a major milestone. It's been a long time since I've brought a product all the way from conception to 1.0 release. I love programming and I love developing products and the last year and a half has been a treat. I look forward to sharing the next phase with others.
