“Late in 2005, my brother needed free, easy to use mailing list
software to reach out to some 3,000 fans he acquired while touring
the country with his band King Wilkie. As his technical expert, I
was unable find a FOSS application that met his need for a free,
simple, Web-based newsletter that provided the flexibility of
mailing subgroups. I decided to roll my own under the GPL —
partially to give back to the FOSS community, partially to practice
new programming techniques, and partially to provide a solution.
What I learned may be as valuable as the software I helped
create.“Before deciding to create yet another mailing list application,
I had to ask myself whether it was worth the effort. Was the
software-to-be significantly different than what was already
available? Could I collaborate on an existing project to achieve my
goal? Would it take too much time…?”