For someone contributing and using OpenNTF content, for many years Bruce Elgort and Niklas Heidloff were the most visible face of OpenNTF. They presented OpenNTF’s session at Lotusphere and subsequently IBM Connect, so to that extent they have been very public faces. Bruce stepped down last year and this year Niklas Heidloff has also confirmed that, because of other commitments, he too is standing down as an OpenNTF Director.
Niklas’ blog posts and videos on OpenNTF have been a constant source of benefit and information for the community. In a recent session at ICON UK on plugin development, the strength of his video on setting up Eclipse with the XPages SDK and Debug Plugin to debug the Extension Library meant John Cooper and I were able to skip very quickly through the development environment. Niklas’ video basically steps through everything that’s required. So if we had done a demo, it would have been virtually identical to the video.
His blog posts have highlighted new projects and enabled developers to get a good awareness of the functionality quickly.
More recently, he has led on OpenNTF webinars and worked with Per Henrik Lausten to manage the redevelopment of the whole OpenNTF website.
His involvement in OpenNTF will be missed, as also will that of the other directors stepping down.
As we approach elections for the board, it’s a good time to reflect. It has been an exciting first year for me as a director with a new logo and the launch of the new website, amongst other initiatives. And though it will be different without the involvement of those stepping down, I look forward to the future.
Paul, thanks a lot for your nice words! I appreciate it a lot. Working on OpenNTF and with the community has been the best job I’ve ever had. I wish OpenNTF all the best. With the new people and the ideas we discussed recently it will be an exciting time.
A great blog post Paul!
Among countless contributions of Niklas, two of them were significantly important for me. I’d like to thank Niklas for XSnippets and CollaborationToday projects. I had the honor to work in these project upon Niklas’s invitation and enjoyed a lot.
OpenNTF can’t stop!!! It’s a very important comunity for Domino’s Developers!!!
Don’t fear, OpenNTF will most definitely continue. Christian Guedemann has done a great job this year as chairman and Nathan Freeman was behind the finding the new logo and coordinating the IBM Connect booth. Both will still be on the board next year. There is already plenty in the pipeline, so although it’s the end of an era, there are exciting times ahead.