Keep it up (leaving Fairphone)

[keesj]

Leaving the Team

When I started working for Fairphone two years ago we merely had access to source code let alone such advanced things as version management or procedures to release new software.

The voice of the community allowed me to drive for changes within the company and within the software supply chain.

Taking a leap to today. Our Lobby to get access to the source code of the FP1 has proven successful and we are still working on an upgrade path to KitKat.

At the same time we released the FP2. A first of its kind smartphone. This time we where able to release much more of the source code. We now also are able make more frequent (security) updates and offer a better upgrade experience for both users who want google apps and users who do not want this.

We opened up to the community by means of the code.fairphone.com website and our presence on irc and allowed communities to do what they like (think of Sailfish OS, Ubuntu, Firefox OS …).

For short two great and productive years with interesting people, fun events and cool stuff.

But not all is good. The company is currently in need to focus on sales to remain a healthy social enterprise and this environment was not healthy for my plans on growing the software team, opening up more in general and at the hardware level in particular. We still grew an awesome software team but I feel at this stage I can not contribute what I would like to the company. I have therefore decided to leave Fairphone but expect to remain part of the community.

With kind regards

[Friedrich]

As I understand the last paragraph of your post you more or less dislike the consquences of the commercial direction the company is taking.
Even tough this is neccesary for the longterm survival of Fairphone.

As a complete stranger from the internet I can only say : If one has had enough one has had enough.

Period.

Thanks for your help in providing us consumers with a fairer mobile phone for 2 years.
And : all the best in your new endavours.

[alexisju]

Maybe you will find time to continue the CM port you begin some month ago?
Is it in your (personal) project?

[NicoM]

Thanks a lot for your great job!

[z3ntu]

*and some more characters to satisfy the 20 character limit*

[Jerry]

Thanks for all your work, not in the least answering questions and helping people here on the forums.
Good luck with your future endeavors.

[fp1_wo_sw_updates]

We still grew an awesome software team but I feel at this stage I can not contribute what I would like to the company. I have therefore decided to leave Fairphone but expect to remain part of the community.

I still think that the Fairphone is also the best phone to buy if one wants to compile a rom. Thanks to you, I think.

But for a lot of reasons I still hesitate to buy one and are looking towards a used Nexus. I hope that the commercial side of Fairphone will be successful enough to support people like you again in the future. I once again fully agree with Jerry. Good luck with your future endeavors, thank you very much for all you have done – and please keep posting here. It’s not the marketing or the management that keeps many of us here in the forum, it’s reading postings from people like you, willing to push the envelope. Software and a good team around it, is still the key for the longevity of the Fairphone, at least for me. But I know there are other factors to keep everything running involved as well. So good luck for everything you will do next!

[Eagle5]

Thanks a lot for your work so far.

[Chris_R]

Sorry to hear this, but glad you’ll remain in the community.

It has been quite a rocky road I think, but look how far the team have come

Proud!!

[emmy]

Thanks for all your hard work, @keesj. Sad to hear you’re leaving, but I wish you all the best for the future and hope we’ll still hear from you here from time to time.

I also hope, admittedly, that the transition from you to another lead developer will go smoothly and that it’s someone who brings the same level of enthusiasm and commitment to the project as you did, even if the focus in the next couple of years will be a little different than what it was in the last two. That is, after all, one of the paradoxes of grassroots success: once you achieve it, the game changes and sometimes those that were most active during the grassroots phase suddenly realize that the successful company isn’t the same thing anymore as the small-scale grassroots movement…

Anyways. All the best. Will you be joining another similar endeavor?

[Stefan]

I’m sorry to hear this, @keesj! I’m especially grateful that you never gave up on FP1 updates. Thank you!

I hope you can continue to bring your experience and talents into a new project.

Thank you for informing the community. We are happy that you are staying with us!

[Jerry]

Our Lobby to get access to the source code of the FP1 has proven successful and we are still working on an upgrade path to KitKat.

A mighty interesting quote, to be honest.
Not getting my hopes up too much yet, but it’s tempting to keep the option open.

[werner_noebauer]

Hi @keesj,

it is sad to hear that you are leaving. I think it will be difficult to find someone like you.

Thanks a lot for all your work you put into the Fairphone project. All the best for your future!

Kind regards
Werner

[Gabriel]

Let me read a little between the lines:
You were aiming to make the soft- and Hardware more open, but the guys in charge prioritized openess too low in your opinion.
Since somewhere in this forum I read that there will be strategical planning for fairphone 3 that might already imply one thing vor another (e.g. no open Hardware for FP3 or even no motivation to open FP more than already done).

While the above is just mere speculation, I want to state that I’m very Grateful for your efforts directed to openess.
I understand that keeping FP and its main ideals alive may demand sacrifces in other areas, but I sincerely hope they will not give up on the idea of improving not only in ethical aspects, mid- to longterm.
At last I wish you best if luck for the future and may your ideals benefit humankind, regardless of what will come.
Kudos!

[Stefan]

Since somewhere in this forum I read that there will be strategical planning for fairphone 3 that might already imply one thing vor another

I think you are talking about this thread. This is a topic discussed by the community. Fairphone, at the moment, does not do any “strategical planning” for a Fairphone 3. Everything written in this thread is nothing but mere opinion of community members.

[tphysm]

Hey @keesj, I’m sad to hear that you’re leaving. I always liked reading your posts - your chains of thoughts were very coherent and most of the time truly comprehensible. And I had a good feeling about Fairphone’s software development in general and in the long-run (especially compared to other vendors), which was mainly grounded on your forum posts and expertise.

I want to thank you so much for your great work to build easily accessible open software including build instructions, the frequent security updates and the possibility to use the phone without Google stuff in an easy, reliable and trustworthy way!
(I never liked downloading a custom ROM image from more or less random people on the xda forum.)

Although I’m relatively new to this forum and only own an FP2, I followed (or re-read) the discussions about FP1’s software and I was rather surprised and impressed by the achievements to get access to FP1 driver software and thus to be able to possibly update its software in the future. And though I’m not affected by this, I highly appreciate this and I’m really glad to see that you care about FP1 users so much and put so much effort into this!

I wish you all the best for the future - no matter which projects will cross your way!

[keesj]

Thank you for your kind words,

I am truly touched by them. I am confident that many more good things will come out of Fairphone and the community.

[sky]

this environment was not healthy for my plans on growing the software team

Did no one told them that software will eat the world?

Thanx a lot @keesj

[siltaar]

Sad to loose such a great free-software ally.

Curious about what next great project you’ll join.

Respectfully,

[masaraiva]

Hey! As I’ve read here, you seem to have contributed a lot to FPs achievements! So thank you for helping such a beautiful movement. Like most social/sustainable driven projects, it’s really hard to go against the wind… but it’s always worth, no doubt!