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