Decennial Thesis: Prologue

Ten years has thus passed since we named our collective “Anthon,” a transliteration of 安同, in a hope to find our place in collaboration as classmates. Since then, many of the founding members, once middle and high school students, have embarked on their quest for professional careers. However, we have not yet parted ways, and “classmate” has taken on broader meanings. Today, we continue to learn what a community means, how to find our place in a community, and where we situate ourselves on the broader FOSS ecosystem.

Here, we propose a thesis based on what we have learned so far as a community. We have certainly made our share of mistakes, but not without a treasure of prideful moments. In this thesis, we present our shared history and understandings, as well as what made our community one of a kind. With this thesis, we do not intend to boast our achievements or to lay blame - we leave the judgments up to you.

This Decennial Thesis, drafted by our community’s contributors, is dedicated first and foremost to all of us who devoted our own time and passion for none other than a belief in our community’s capacity to serve the open-source ecosystem. We also dedicate this thesis to all our friends who supported us on this decade-long journey – AOSC will never become what it is today without your kind words, thoughtful critiques, and contribution. Building software for the masses entails tremendous mental and financial resources. For this reason, we are also deeply indebted to our numerous individual, corporate, and institutional sponsors that provided monetary, hardware, and professional training for our community projects.

— AOSC Contributors