Today, it is 614 weeks ago that Drupal 1.0 has been released, 4.295 days in the past, or 103.080 hours ago. During this time period, the Drupal community released 14 major versions, from 1.0 to 7.0. The new release is planned around mid august 2013 and hence will be the 15th major release. For those less in to the history of Drupal releases but can count and think that 8.0 as the 15th major release doest add up, it doesn't. Between 4.0 and 5.0 we spend 5 years releasing 4.1 up to 4.7, in our numbering scheme back then major releases.

During all these versions the Drupal community supported the current version and the version before. So with 7 being the current major release, we also support the 6 release that first saw the light of day on 13 february 2008 and will continue to do so up to around 15th of august 2013. Work on Drupal 6 started around december 2006, six and a half years ago by the time Drupal 8 will be released.

During all these versions the Drupal community had a no backwards compatibility philosophy. Modules that work in version 6 will not work in version 7. So for many of the thousands of modules we host on Drupal.org we have a stable and a development release for version 6 of Drupal and for version 7.

Today is also the day that people are using SaaS for all kinds of services. People and companies rely on the Google mail and experience a new version of this product on a daily basis, even without knowing it or seeing the difference cosmetically. Today people have hundreds of apps installed on their tablets and phones and upgrade those on a weekly or even daily basis at a touch of a finger.

Today is also the day that a manufacturer like Apple releases new major OS versions every year at extremely low prices and with a low barriers when it comes to the upgrade pain. Ubuntu -a leading Linux distribution package company- releases new versions of their product time boxed, complete predictable. Every 6 month users have the latest supported Linux distribution available and can update and upgrade with great ease.

I often explained Drupal’s lack of backwards compatibility towards users and customers as “Breaking with yesterday, building tomorrow”. Comparing it to Windows 7 that contains code of Windows XP, windows ME, Windows 95, Windows 3.11 and even all the way up to emulating code of MS-DOS 6.2. In order to move forward, we break with supporting the past unlike that product of Microsoft. Where Microsoft had to put every piece of history in its backpack when stepping forwards and carry all the weight of the history around towards the future, the Drupal community could break with yesterdays code and API’s and jump towards a brand new tomorrow.

Today I have problems saying so. Microsoft isn't the dominant example anymore and as stated, the competitors like Google, Apple and Linux are moving towards a “real time” experience of their products where users can enjoy the tools of today that have been build for them today on technologies available today.

With this in mind, it is good to look back at Dries’ last talk during the most excellent DrupalCon Munich. In a small room that was completely packed, Dries hinted around on what Drupal might be in the future. As always, he choose his words wisely and made sure what he said could be a thought experiment and might or might not happen, no promises no demands.

One of the things Dries hinted at that not many people seem to have picked up on, was that Drupal should be shortening it’s release cycles, towards for example half a year. And when you shorten your release cycle like that, you have to make sure that upgrades are cheap. Meaning you must stop our mantra of breaking compatibility between major versions. I do think that a new way of looking at our releases (what) and cycles (when) is more then needed.

Today planning and sticking to the plan is just as hard as it was yesterday. And hence even when we aim at an 18 month release cycle we end up with twice the amount in a code slush. Note though that even the18 month was derived from looking at the past, like steering a car by looking rearview mirror. It is possible, but assumes conditions remain constant.

While we know that the Ceteris Paribus world is not real, the world is continuously changing and the constant being that people constantly say that the change is only going faster. And in fact, even if the conditions in the future are the same, fact is that we as a community are in the risk of being overtaken by the past, proprietary CMS-es and other open source CMS-es that have been looking up towards us up to now.

Today I don't know what the answer is for the best release date of Drupal 9 and higher. But I do know that the current release cycles are breaking us up. I have seen very talented frontend designers quit Drupal because they didnt want to work anymore with outdates templates systems or jQuery versions. But, didn’t they want to “scratch their own itch?”. Sure they did, they just scratched it on another place, not in Drupal. I think Dries and others know that something has to change, I do not know the answer, but I would welcome a timeboxed (half a year) cycle and 3 older versions supported with backwards compatibility. Or an Long Term Support version next to more cutting edge version. Or something Dries will come up with on the next month.

Last week I travelled from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom. Doing so I crossed two other countries, Belgium and France before taking the ferry to the Island I love so much. Let me tell you a story about one of these borders I crossed, the one between Belgium and The Netherlands. When one drives from the Netherlands towards the Belgium, one can see the border from kilometres away.

Not that there is a huge fence. There is no borer patrol or customs at all.
Not that there is a life size doted line that separated both countries, there is just a blue sign welcoming you in Belgium.
Not that the landscape changes dramatically from flat Low Lands to the Belgium Alps, there is very gradually change of culture, language and landscape.

Still one is able to spot the border from far. Simply by the fact that all what is ugly in a country is moved as far away from the country as possible and placed at the edges of the geographical boundary. So high windmills delivering electricity are stacked up to pollute the horizon, nuclear power-plants are tactically moved to the edge as well as other unpopular geographical activities, all moved towards this area from both sides.

Think about this. Just as many people life in this area like any other inner country area, maybe even more. So the impact of these activities is just as big as it would be in the centre of The Netherlands or Belgium. But there are less voters in the border area for Belgium and for The Netherlands. If you don't aggregate the voters that is.

Just as many people have hinder, only half the number can complain to their local / federal government. From “The Big Picture” Point of View, doing stuff like this is complete nonsense, just as many people are impacted. From a political point of View it makes perfect sense, Not In My Back Yard!

So is this relevant for Drupal one might ask and why or how? It is relevant. And I’ll try to explain the why and how here.

I see the same happening in our community, both geographical and political wise piles of shit are shifted towards The Other. And it is not that I see this happening, I think I am one of he persons who is guilty of shifting the shit I don't want to the edges of my comfort zone and thereby maybe to you. This post is a “Sorry” for that. And a start to make sure that we all try to do the best we can for the Drupal Universe. Not just the part of the universe you (I!) are (am) located in.

If one looks at the last 5 years, there has been a clear trend that there is more friction between the EU (excluding the UK) and USA. Due to different political backgrounds, due to “oversee” wars, due to different visions about how to solve international terrorism and for example Guantanamo Bay, there is growing scepticism in many countries in the EU towards the USA. Triggering a similar reaction of those stupid fat Yankees towards the fine High Culture citizens of the EU. That was a joke. My statement is that if you cant make a joke about an argument, you are in real trouble.

This scepticism and the friction between the old and the new continent is also visible in the Drupal community, like it is in any other bilateral relationship between these two continents. While we share the four world languages (Love, Money, English, PHP) in our community, we differ in so many things we often forget to give some room to each other. It was visible from the reaction on the Paris DrupalCon silhouette to your mothers’ CMS remark, the so called Americanisation of the Drupal Association and for example the struggle to get a Code of Conduct for DrupalCons. Mind you, I have an strong opinion in all of these matters, but this posting is not here to redo these arguments, it is a posting to make room for other others. To seek for what binds us, not what separates us. I think John Postel (“two four six eight, there is someone I appreciate”) said it best when he said “Be conservative in what you send, be liberal in what you accept”. This robustness principle that is the heart of all technical protocols we use on the net, should also be the core of our genes in the Drupal community.
Not just USA vs EU, the world is bigger then those two continents and smaller then all continents.
Not just XX chromosomes vs XY. There is so much more the two genders and it is so unimportant what toilet you use.
Not just gay vs straight. Love and passion can be so much more in a community then .. Ohh, forget that last part...

But for all, everywhere. Independent what you are or where your local airport is located, we should think about the place where you want to go and how you can fly over-there. Not on how you / I can shift the pile of shit towards the end of your / my zone.

When I ask my 5 year old son what his favourite colour is, he answers “Blue”.... “And purple.. And yellow... And gold..” And the he continues some more. Let us remember that the global colour locale we share is blue. And pink. And black. And white. The complete rainbow. And 50 shades of grey, if that is your cup of tea. But mostly, it is blue.

As Morten announced some time ago, there will be a Frontend Conference in April in Amsterdam targetting all (EU) Drupal themers. Apart from Morten, it is organised by Isabell Schulz, Jesper Wøldiche, Marek Sotak and me.

It will be held at Pakhuis de Zwijger, a rather nice old warehouse in the center of Amsterdam. More information on the conference can be found on frontendunited.org

One of the speakers will be Jeroen Wijering. Who you ask? Well, what Dries is for Drupal, Jeroen is for video on the web. See this whois JW video on Youtube. JW knows all about HTML5, mobile, video and even what browser minor version has what bug and how to get past this. His knowledge matches our themes perfectly:

• Drupal on every device
• Frontend performance
• The Drupal experience
• Getting visual with data

You know you have some expertise in one or more of these field as well. And if this is the case, please do submit a session. The conference is all about people like you ;-) Even if you don't think you can add anything, please to take something. Like a ticket, hopefully the "community support" one to get extra Awesomeness. Buy your fresh ticket with a couple of clicks. Oooh, and do stalk your employer that (s)he should sponsor the conference, see for yourself what the advantages are.

We hope to see you in April in Amsterdam. It will rock!

If you own a mac, you use spotlight daily. Or even better, use Alfred. A great way to navigate faster with a keyboard towards the app or data you need.

A very long time ago a Boy Wonder made something like this for Drupal 5, navigating through the /admin pages using a simple spotlight alike interface, see the menuscout module. Unfortunately, Boy Wonder, he wandered off and the module gained dust.

Then some time ago co-worker Michael Mol showed me a module he has been working on. Since he was doing D6 and D7 development at the same time and since the URL's changed and developers use URL's as well for navigation, he decided to d a spotlight alike search on the admin pages so he could remember the name, not the URL. It ended up being coffee, for now a sandbox project but anyday now a real project in d.o. To see it in action, take a look at this screencast.

Think of coffee as spotlight for the admin interface. And if you want an easter egg like the do a barrel roll, get active in this issue.

Two years ago the Drupal Association organised a meeting for the local Drupal "leaders" in the EU during the DrupalCon Copenhagen. This meal paid by the DA might have been one of the best investments they made. A lot of events were organised as a direct result of this meeting including the DrupalDevDays and the CxO days as well as the Frontend United conference. I am co organising this Frontend United event and will post more soon, just be sure to be in Amsterdam, The Netherlands during the end of march:-) And follow @frontendunited.

On a related note, there will be a Drupal process meet-up in Amsterdam as well. After last years extremely successful CxO days there is now the process. Be sure to sign-up for this event sponsored by and held at the venue of Microsoft and meet your peers.

On 27, 28 and 29 January we are organizing the next Drupal executives meetup (CXO) in Amsterdam. This meetup aims to facilitate peer-to-peer learning about business processes between leadership of Drupal shops. What are the best practices? What kind of processes do you need? How do you grow from a entrepreneur centered culture to a process driven culture?