Yesterday marked the 17th anniversary of the first release of WordPress. I didn’t use WordPress back then—I didn’t find my way to it until it was a youthful four years old in 2007.

In the 13 years since, the software has made a major impact of my life, sure, but the community around it has a greater impact. The community is what hooked me into using it and helped me grow as from a shade-tree tinkerer to working as a full-time developer at Automattic.

I didn’t appreciate the nuance of software licenses back then. I hadn’t heard about the four freedoms of software. For me, once I understood the idea, I was hooked. It just made sense.

Thanks WordPress and, more importantly, all the people behind it for 17 years of community and open source.