Personal

Forty Six in Phoenix

I'm celebrating my birthday at a soccer tournament in Phoenix, Arizona. My son's team just won their division, and now they are playing football in the pool (because three days of soccer apparently wasn't enough). So while they play, let me recap last year and look forward into 2023.

The boys after they won their tournament.

Home

I think we can say things are essentially back to normal. We seem to be at the point where the pandemic will now be treated as another virus in the global mix of infectious diseases. Maybe flu shots, boosters, and masks are more prevalent now, but day-to-day kids play, and I work.

Essentially our life is good and without drama. That means it’s pretty uninteresting to those outside our immediate friends and family. So, let’s talk about work.

Work

I’m disappointed, relieved, excited, and frustrated. I really wanted to be done with WiX v4 last year. It was not. That was highly disappointing. But we’re likely/probably/maybe only a couple months away now, which feels much better. There is a lot to unpack about WiX v4 (like why it took so long), but that is a topic for another day.

At FireGiant, we finally announced and released the first preview of HeatWave, our Visual Studio integration for WiX v4. We focused on the basics: the project system and build functionality. Still, I’m pleased we also fit in the WiX v3 to v4 migration feature. I expect HeatWave v1 to be ready with WiX v4 and can’t wait to get going on HeatWave v2 features.

To start exposing all the new technology coming out with WiX v4 and HeatWave, I expanded my hobby of recording and commentating on my kids’ soccer games into YouTube Live streaming. My “Let’s Code a Full 90” show tracked some of the final development of WiX v4, and my “Deployment Dojo” show is a guided tour of how to use WiX v4 as a total beginner. Running these live shows is enjoyable, and many shows spark new ideas for FireGiant and WiX v5.

This brings me to my frustration: the entitled consumerism of Open Source software. Too many users of Open Source projects now believe they are customers of a free product. Too many companies adopt Open Source projects with more concern about the project’s license choice than its long-term viability. These predispositions lead to an overwhelmingly negative experience for many Open Source project maintainers. It is time for change.

I have much, much more to say about this “entitled consumerism” culture problem in Open Source. Truthfully, I feel complicit that this culture exists in the WiX Toolset project, and it is long overdue that I challenge it.

Next

WiX v4 will be finished soon, and HeatWave v1 will follow closely. I’m excited to get into HeatWave v2 and WiX v5. However, that excitement is tempered by the need to finish the current versions.

I will continue experimenting on YouTube with my live shows and other ideas. Subscribe to see what new deployment/setup-related video content I cook up.

Finally, expect to see me start conversations about the state of Open Source software development, particularly in the Microsoft ecosystem.

In the meantime, keep coding. You know I am!