From 05f958f373bd0c55a0dcf2e8b3b8ed0e19dda54b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: joostdecock Date: Wed, 1 Jan 2025 16:00:56 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] chore: Newsletter 2025q1 --- sites/org/newsletter/2025q1/index.mdx | 120 ++++++++++++++++++++++ sites/org/newsletter/2025q1/index.mdx.bak | 118 +++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 238 insertions(+) create mode 100644 sites/org/newsletter/2025q1/index.mdx create mode 100644 sites/org/newsletter/2025q1/index.mdx.bak diff --git a/sites/org/newsletter/2025q1/index.mdx b/sites/org/newsletter/2025q1/index.mdx new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..8e89721d4d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/sites/org/newsletter/2025q1/index.mdx @@ -0,0 +1,120 @@ +--- +date: '2025-01-01' +edition: '2025q1' +intro: 'Welcome to the 2025 Winter edition of the FreeSewing newsletter.' +title: '2025 Winter edition' +authors: + - 1 +toc_max_heading_level: 2 +--- + +Welcome to the 2025 Winter edition of the FreeSewing newsletter. + +Here's what we've cobbled together on this first day of the year: + +- 🎉 Happy New Year (1-minute read by Joost) +- 🏆 How did we do in 2024? (2-minute read by Joost) +- ✅ What are we doing in 2025? (2-minute read by Joost) + + + +Let's begin. + +  + +  + +  + +  + +## 🎉 Happy New Year + +I would like to start by wishing you a happy New Year. 2025 is officially here, +and it's kind of an exciting year as far as numbers go. +For one thing, 2025 is 45 squared (45²), which is rare as far as years go, as +44² happened way back in 1936, and 46² won't be here until 2116. + +But there's more, because 2025 is also the sum of the cube of all single digits +(1³+2³+3³+4³+5³+6³+7³+8³+9³), and it also happens to be [a Harshad +number](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harshad_number). + +Wikipedia tells me that: + +> _harshad comes from the Sanskrit harṣa (joy) + da (give), meaning joy-giver_ + +So, my optimistic interpretation is that 2025 announces itself as a year that +is supposed to bring joy. + +My only wish is that the numbers don't lie and that indeed this year will bring +you lots of joy. + +## 🏆 How did we do in 2024? + +FreeSewing passed a non-trivial milestone in 2024, when we passed the 100k +activated user accounts on FreeSewing.org. As I'm writing this, our website +has 106.734 activated user accounts. That's a lot. As a matter of fact, the +growth of the site has caused issues big and small as we needed to scale up and +sometimes adapt the way things are handled behind the scenes to deal with the +sheer numbers. We've got a good handle on things, and I expect we'll be culling +older/dormant accounts throughout the year, so this is not something that has +me worried. + +2024 was also the first (full) year since we switched to a pay-what-you-want model. +Revenue for the year clocked in at €10.386,63 ($10.808), which is slight increase +over the year before (1.6% increase over 2023's €10.222,07). + +I am happy about that number, but it's also a source of worry because the ever +increasing number of users does not translate in any sort of meaningful way to +more financial support. In other words, an increasingly smaller percentage of our +users are the ones who make it all possible, and that concerns not only because +it's a small minority but also because my feeling is that this group skews +heavily to users who have been with us for longer. + +In other words, I do have some concerns for the longer term future. But I +prefer to focus on the positive and more than 10k [going to those who need it +most](https://freesewing.org/docs/about/pledge) is certainly reason to be thankful. + +## ✅ What are we doing in 2025? + +Version 4 of FreeSewing, that's what we're doing. +Yes, the next major release is on its way, although it needs more time in the +over before it's really to be consumed. (If you're curious, you can [keep an +eye on this pull request](https://github.com/freesewing/freesewing/pull/7297)). + +The instigator for the new major release is that we'll drop support for NodeJS +18, and expect at least version 20 going forward. We use the so-called LTS +release (long term support) which is recommended for production deployments. +The end-of-life date for version 18 is the end of April of this year, so by +that time we will move to v4 and NodeJS 20, which necessitates a major version bump. + +We are of course using the opportunity to make some other (breaking) changes, +although those changes will be minimal in our core library and designs. + +The majority of the changes will be in how we manage _all the other stuff_. +From the very start, we've focused on making it easy for contributors to +create and add their own designs, and that's proven very successful. +FreeSewing's _collection_ of designs has grown not only in absolute numbers, +but also in the amount of different people who have contributed them. + +Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the other things that keep +FreeSewing ticking. Like the various websites, and backend code, and all the +many things big and small that make FreeSewing what it is. We have great +contributors who are eager to help out, but historically the focus has +always been on providing tools, documentation, guidance, and handrails to +create designs. When it comes to working on the website or backend code, +documentation is often lacking, and it's just a lot harder to get involved with +that aspect of the project. + +That is of course entirely my fault. For all the work that went into making it +easy for people to contribute designs, no similar effort was undertaken for the +other aspects of the project. + +So, that will be my personal focus in 2025, and the upcoming v4 release will be +a big part of that. + + +Take care of yourself. + + +joost diff --git a/sites/org/newsletter/2025q1/index.mdx.bak b/sites/org/newsletter/2025q1/index.mdx.bak new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..8f169d8fd06 --- /dev/null +++ b/sites/org/newsletter/2025q1/index.mdx.bak @@ -0,0 +1,118 @@ +--- +date: '2025-01-01' +edition: '2025q1' +intro: 'Welcome to the 2025 Winter edition of the FreeSewing newsletter.' +title: '2025 Winter edition' +authors: + - 1 +toc_max_heading_level: 2 +--- + +Welcome to the 2025 Winter edition of the FreeSewing newsletter. + +Here's what we've cobbled together on this first day of the year: + +- 🎉 Happy New Year (1-minute read by Joost) +- 🏆 How did we do in 2024? (2-minute read by Joost) +- ✅ What are we doing in 2025? (2-minute read by Joost) + + + +Let's begin. + +  + +  + +  + +  + +## 🎉 Happy New Year + +I would like to start by wishing you a happy New Year. 2025 is officially here, +and it's kind of an exciting year as far as numbers go. +For one thing, 2025 is 45 squared (45²), which is rare as far as years go, as +44² happened way back in 1936, and 46² won't be here until 2116. + +But there's more, because 2025 is also the sum of the cube of all single digits +(1³+2³+3³+4³+5³+6³+7³+8³+9³), and it also happens to be [a Harshad +number](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harshad_number). + +Wikipedia tells me that: + +> _harshad comes from the Sanskrit harṣa (joy) + da (give), meaning joy-giver_ + +So, my optimistic interpretation is that 2025 announces itself as a year that +is supposed to bring joy. + +My only wish is that the numbers don't lie and that indeed this year will bring +you lots of joy. + +## 🏆 How did we do in 2024? + +FreeSewing passed a non-trivial milestone in 2024, when we passed the 100k +activated user accounts on FreeSewing.org. As I'm writing this, our website +has 106.734 activated user accounts. That's a lot. As a matter of fact, the +growth of the site has caused issues big and small as we needed to scale up and +sometimes adapt the way things are handled behind the scenes to deal with the +scale. We've got a good handle on things, and I expect we'll be culling older +accounts throughout the year, so this is not something that has me worried. + +2024 was also the first (full) year since we switched to a pay-what-you-want model. +Revenue for the year clocked in at 10.386,63 euro, which is slight increase +over the year before (1.6% increase over 2023's 10.222,07 euro). + +I am happy about that number, but it's also a source of worry because the ever +increasing number of users does not translate in any sort of meaningful way to +more fincancial support. In other words, an increasingly smaller percentage of our +users are the ones who make it all possible, and that concerns not only because +it's a small minority but also because my feeling is that this group skews +heavily to users who have been with us for longer. + +In other words, I do have some concerns for the longer term future. But I +prefer to focus on the positive and more than 10k [going to those who need it +most](https://freesewing.org/docs/about/pledge) is certainly reason to be thankful. + +## ✅ What are we doing in 2025? + +Version 4 of FreeSewing, that's what we're doing. +Yes, the next major release is on its way, altough it needs more time in the +over before it's really to be consumed. + +The instigator for the new major release is that we'll drop support for NodeJS +18, and expect at least version 20 going forward. We use the so-called LTS +release (long term support) which is recommended for production deployments. +The end-of-life date for version 18 is the end of April of this year, so by +that time we will move to v4 and NodeJS 20, which nesitates a major version bump. + +We are of course using the opportunity to make some other (breaking) changes, +although those changes will be minimal in our core library and designs. + +The majority of the changes will be in how we manage _all the other stuff_. +From the very start, we've focussed on making it easy for contributors to +create and add their own designs, and that's proven very successful. +FreeSewing's _collection_ of designs has grown not only in absolute numbers, +but also in the amount of different people who have contributed them. + +Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the other things that keep +FreeSewing ticking. Like the various websites, and backend code, and all the +many things big and small that make FreeSewing what it is. We have great +contributors who are eager to help out, but historically the focus is +always been on providing tools, documentation, guidance, and handrails to +create designs. When it comes to working on the website or backend code, +documentation is often lacking, and it's just a lot harder to get involved with +that aspect of the project. + +That is of course entirely my fault. For all the work that went into making it +easy for people to contribute designs, no similar effort was undertaken for the +other aspects of the project. + +So, that will be my personal focus in 2025, and the upcoming v4 release will be +a big part of that. + + + + + +joost