Small thank-yous for 2.8

[Trevor Bača]

Hi,

In the not-quite one year that I've been using LilyPond (since the
beginning of the 2.7 cycle), I've gotten to where I now use the
program every single day, either to sketch, to model, to test, or to
engrave pieces from beginning to end. Lily is now one of my most
important tools for getting a piece done. And also one of the most
fun.

And since the 2.8 release is now the real deal, I'd like to say thanks
to everybody who's helped make Lily what it is and give all such
beautiful music to look at.

Thanks first and foremost to Han-Wen and Graham and Mats and Erik for
your amazing work every single day, and thanks just as much to Jan for
your work behind the scenes.

Thanks also for the new features and the patches that Nicolas and
Erlend and Werner and Carl and Joe Neeman many others have written and
generously allowed us all to benefit from.

Thanks, too, to Steve for sponsoring Han-Wen's continued beautiful
work on ties, to Nicolas for helping me sponsor Han-Wen's work on page
layout, and to all the other sponsors who maybe -- just maybe -- might
help us all give Han-Wen the necessary financial freedom to keep
going.

Thanks to the very smart folks who've helped package the code for all
our operating systems, and translate the now very, very good docs into
something like half a dozen languages.

And thank you to EVERYONE on the user and development and bug lists
who've gotten me out of *every single* help situation that I've needed
while working with Lily and who have shared your very detailed,
careful analyses of everything from the precise details of traditional
and modern notation, to the specifics of PostScript. Our community
help should be the envy of software projects everywhere ---
commercial, open, or otherwise.

Lastly, there's the matter of money. There's never enough of it, of
course. But right now what I can afford is the modest donation of EUR
70 first and foremost to Han-Wen for his brilliant code and
leadership; another EUR 70 to Graham for his heroic ability to collate
all of our suggestions and additions to manual, most especially in the
extraordinarily busy lead-up to the 2.8 release; and finally a
donation of EUR 70 to Mats for the 1 billion different questions that
he's answered for everyone on the list over the last year and that
have taught me how to effectively use Lily in the process.

If you get some of the same satisfaction out of using Lily for your
work -- and, of course, if you have a little cash to spare -- even a
couple of small donations to your favorite members of our project team
would help us all show our appreciation for all the hard work involved
in brining us the 2.8 release.

Thanks, folks.


--
Trevor Bača
address@hidden