Sam Spilsbury has been the lead of Compiz for as long as I’ve paid attention to it.

His blog is one that I follow closely to get a bit of insight into the project. Normally a place of brain dumps, something a bit more… troubling popped up on the twenty-fifth of December – an “Apology.”

In it Sam writes: –

“Over the past few years, I have promised a new direction for the compiz project. I promised that with the new backing we’d see a revival in development, and increased stability.

I have failed.

I have failed the compiz community.

I have failed the Ubuntu community.

I have failed the previous maintainers.

Despite my best efforts, stability has gotten worse, and I feel as though I can’t even get the simplest things right for the project anymore.

Perhaps things will get better, perhaps things will get worse. I would only hope that the project can attract some of the people it needs in order to keep it alive as it once was, or can solidify on a new direction.”

I for one am unhappy to see this man, the effective face of Compiz, being so hard on himself.

I will not deny that he doesn’t make a point about where Compiz is at, but, at the same time, the tremendous amount of work that he has put into the project to get it where it is deserves a hearty round of whoop and applause.

Everyone is glad of the work you do, worried about the hours you keep for all of us, and, most of all, proud of the work you’ve done for us. It may not have been all that your promised, but, at the very least, it’s a whole hell of a lot than most of us could manage. And you do it without a single true complaint in the face of many dissenters.

So, please, if you read this SMSpillaz please remember: You are crazy enough to think you can change the world.