=== FOR RELEASE MARCH 10TH 2007 ===
Today, on March 10th 2007, we celebrate the 5 year anniversary of the Blackbox for Windows Development Team and the launch of a community effort that has since grown beyond what any of us could ever have anticipated back then. Blackbox for Windows is but one in a long list of alternative shells for Microsoft Windows, yet perhaps one of the most successful considering the large number of users, its ongoing active development and its thriving community.
The Blackbox for Windows project - now commonly referred to as bb4win - was kicked off by Ben Stormhold [azathoth] in mid 2001, with the intention to create a shell based stylistically on the Blackbox window manager for the X Window System created by Bradley T Hughes and Sean "Shaleh" Perry. After a series of releases to a closed group of beta testers, it was finally unveiled to the public in the autumn of 2001. In these early days, the shell consisted mainly of the desktop, the menu, and a basic yet powerful plugin API.
A few months later, development was taken over by the newly formed Blackbox for Windows Development Team (lead by yours truly), and five years ago today, on March 10th 2002, the Blackbox for Windows Development Team announced its first release, Blackbox for Windows 0.0.30, the first to include the characteristic Blackbox toolbar.
Then followed a very active period of development. New developers joined the team (including Chris Sutcliffe [ironhead] who was to become team leader from 0.0.70 onwards), some left seeking other fortunes, but the project continued to evolve in a rapid pace (a short summary of the early Blackbox for Windows history from 0.0.30 to 0.0.70 can be found here). Eventually, the pace in the main bb4win project slowed down, but was replaced by rapid development in the two now most successful branches - xoblite and bbLean - but I'll leave that story for another day... =]
Today I also want to extend my gratitude to Brian Hartvigsen [Tres`ni] and his fellow admin comrades for their continuous commitment to the boxshots.org and lostinthebox.com community sites. Without these sites, our community would not be what it is today.
Last but not least, I want to thank all our users - there are literally thousands of you out there according to our website statistics! - who have found our little project interesting during the past five years. A special thank you to the core group of users that has stuck with us through the good times and the bad times - you know who you are.
Hooray! :D
Karl-Henrik Henriksson [qwilk]
Today, on March 10th 2007, we celebrate the 5 year anniversary of the Blackbox for Windows Development Team and the launch of a community effort that has since grown beyond what any of us could ever have anticipated back then. Blackbox for Windows is but one in a long list of alternative shells for Microsoft Windows, yet perhaps one of the most successful considering the large number of users, its ongoing active development and its thriving community.
The Blackbox for Windows project - now commonly referred to as bb4win - was kicked off by Ben Stormhold [azathoth] in mid 2001, with the intention to create a shell based stylistically on the Blackbox window manager for the X Window System created by Bradley T Hughes and Sean "Shaleh" Perry. After a series of releases to a closed group of beta testers, it was finally unveiled to the public in the autumn of 2001. In these early days, the shell consisted mainly of the desktop, the menu, and a basic yet powerful plugin API.
A few months later, development was taken over by the newly formed Blackbox for Windows Development Team (lead by yours truly), and five years ago today, on March 10th 2002, the Blackbox for Windows Development Team announced its first release, Blackbox for Windows 0.0.30, the first to include the characteristic Blackbox toolbar.
Then followed a very active period of development. New developers joined the team (including Chris Sutcliffe [ironhead] who was to become team leader from 0.0.70 onwards), some left seeking other fortunes, but the project continued to evolve in a rapid pace (a short summary of the early Blackbox for Windows history from 0.0.30 to 0.0.70 can be found here). Eventually, the pace in the main bb4win project slowed down, but was replaced by rapid development in the two now most successful branches - xoblite and bbLean - but I'll leave that story for another day... =]
Today I also want to extend my gratitude to Brian Hartvigsen [Tres`ni] and his fellow admin comrades for their continuous commitment to the boxshots.org and lostinthebox.com community sites. Without these sites, our community would not be what it is today.
Last but not least, I want to thank all our users - there are literally thousands of you out there according to our website statistics! - who have found our little project interesting during the past five years. A special thank you to the core group of users that has stuck with us through the good times and the bad times - you know who you are.
Hooray! :D
Karl-Henrik Henriksson [qwilk]
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