Tall trees have deep roots
You may think of Umbraco solely as the piece of software that runs the website you’re currently viewing. But like impressive trees, it would be nothing without the roots that bring it to life - and in the case of Umbraco, it’s our community.
The origins of the roots
date back to 2003 where the first version of Umbraco saw its light. Back then nobody could predict what it would become and especially not Niels Hartvig who simply designed and built Umbraco as a tool to quickly produce sites for his freelance clients and make sure they had a user-friendly way of updating it.
But in 2004 he decided to open source the work and with help of friends Kasper Bumbech and Anders Pollas with whom he shared office space, the first version of Umbraco as open source saw the light of the day on February 16th 2005.
In the early days, the community was purely virtual and since it was the days before Facebook and Twitter, the early adopters communicated through a Yahoo Mailinglist. From the seeds of talking Umbraco via email, the idea of an Umbraco conference surfaced and in March 2005, CodeGarden was born…
Since v1 of CodeGarden in 2005
thousands of people have attended what is considered a must experience event for any “Umbracian”; it’s where everything Umbraco comes to life. From seeing the latest progress, sharing knowledge with fellow community members, having memorable times in the wonderful city of Copenhagen and returning energized with new knowledge and inspiration.
But more than anything, it’s the special vibe that has always been a keystone in everything that surrounds Umbraco. As coined by Hudson Maul back in 2006 - it’s “The Friendly CMS”.