Today I announced that I am closing Tectonic. It’s been a lot harder to do this than I ever imagined it would be.
I made the decision to close Tectonic some time back but have managed to stay the final execution for as long as possible. But eventually I could put it off no longer.
It’s been almost ten years since I started the site and in that time the site has dominated my life. The site was always more than merely a source of income. It was a place for me to express my ideas, it was a place for the open source community to gather and share ideas, it was a place to advance the interests of free and open source software.
In truth it was mostly the last three and was never really the income generator hoped for and it required countless sacrifices and compromises on my part to keep it always ticking over. I’m not unhappy about those sacrifices because I always got so much more out of the chance to run Tectonic than I would otherwise have got. Increasingly, however, the sacrifices became harder to justify and, frankly, the rewards were not abundant enough to make it seem worthwhile each and every day.
All things have their time. Personally I hope that Tectonic made a small difference over the years by giving a voice to the free and open source community. Hopefully it made a difference by raising issues that many other publications simply ignored or were unaware of. Hopefully it made a difference by helping the free software community grow just a little bit stronger.
Over the past week I have received a number of emails, phone calls and direct Twitter messages asking if I, and Tectonic, were okay. Obviously my lack of new content on the site over the past couple of weeks has not gone unnoticed. I appreciate all of these calls. It’s awesome to know that I only have to stop doing what I do on Tectonic for a few days and loyal readers are already asking after me.Thank you.
I have no intention of abandoning free and open source software. I started Tectonic because of my passion for free software and I will continue to promote it at every opportunity; it may just take a different form from a news site.
Closing Tectonic is sad but it also opens up new opportunities. The demands of running the site often made it difficult to pursue new ideas, something that I hope will now be possible. Tectonic has taught me more about online media than I could ever have hoped. Hopefully I can now put that knowledge to good use in new projects, some of which are already in their formative stages.
July 7th, 2009 @ 2:23 pm
Let me be the first to tell you…
Thanks for all your hard work and effort!
Tectonic will always be the definitive Open Source News site for Africa.
Good Luck with your future endeavors!
July 7th, 2009 @ 5:03 pm
You did a GREAT job!!! Thank you for your sacrifices and efforts. Life just starts at 40, wish you the very best for the next 60 years ahead!
July 7th, 2009 @ 11:42 pm
I’m in the UK, and Tectonic for me was always a leading-edge source of Open Source news. I’ll miss it in my reader.
July 8th, 2009 @ 1:27 am
Good luck, and congratulation for what you have done with Tectonic.
July 8th, 2009 @ 11:20 am
Seems more appropriate to post here than on Tectonic since it’s the start of something new rather than the end of an era. I always appreciated the energy you put into Tectonic, your awareness of the broader social issues that FLOSS can impact, and the positive relationships you created in the industry. Best of luck with your new projects, may they bring peace and fulfillment.
July 14th, 2009 @ 3:54 pm
Wow, I was really surprised by the news and am very sorry to see it all coming to an end.
I have regularly taken my FOSS updates from your site.
Thanks for your contribution and I trust that this will not be the end of those contributions, just the start of a new direction.
Everything of the very best into the future.
August 9th, 2009 @ 7:19 pm
Alastair
Thank you for the exceptional work you have done in promoting FOSS through the Tectonic web site.
Tectonic was my favourite South African web site and it is a great sadness to see it go. Nevertheless, the best things in life are finite and new exciting opportunities will always surface for a mover and shaker.
Best of luck with your new ventures.
August 12th, 2009 @ 11:23 am
Hi Alistair – let me also post a comment here since it’s the new place (I agree with Rudi!). I remember ‘growing up’ in the Internet in Africa scene reading your posts and greatly valued your contribution to promoting open source in Africa. Thanks for your contribution!
I look forward to seeing what you do next. Please consider joining Kabissa at http://www.kabissa.org and crossposting there on topics relevant to African civil society.
Cheers,
Tobias
May 19th, 2010 @ 6:47 pm
Hi Alistair – let me also post a comment here since it’s the new place (I agree with Rudi!). I remember ‘growing up’ in the Internet in Africa scene reading your posts and greatly valued your contribution to promoting open source in Africa. Thanks for your contribution!
I look forward to seeing what you do next. Please consider joining Kabissa at http://www.kabissa.org and crossposting there on topics relevant to African civil society.
Cheers,
Tobias
May 28th, 2010 @ 11:58 am
I’ll miss Tectonic but I love the new blog and I can completely relate to your situation. I had the same issue with FreeArticles.co.za before I sold it. I also co-own GuitarForum.co.za which makes no money but demands a lot of time. The upside there is that I’m at least passionate about guitar and music so it’s still fun
Good luck and thanks for everything you’ve contributed to the ZA opensource scene so far!