Candidates for the 2023 Tauri Board elections.
I live in Redmond, WA (USA). My wife and I have two kids, one in high school and the other in college. I am fortunate to have a job that I love doing writing code, so much so that I spend quite a bit of my free time working on OSS projects. Besides OSS projects, I also like to play games on my PC and viola in a community orchestra.
I am a Principal Software Engineer at Microsoft, where I have worked for just over 25 years, primarily in C++ codebases. Some of the first features I worked on were early hybrid web features which integrated WebView controls to host HTML UI with bindings to C++ in the host application. Since then, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and browser APIs have become much more powerful, to the point where Progressive Web Applications and web hosts like Electron are competitive with native applications. If you throw in frameworks like React Native, it seems clear to me that the best future for most native client code bases is integrating with or into one of these JavaScript-based UI frameworks, rather than getting locked into a platform-specific native UI framework.
In 2018, I released the first version of CppGraphQLGen (https://github.com/microsoft/cppgraphqlgen), a C++ GraphQL schema service generator. The goal of this project is to make it as easy as possible to project a C++ API/library to JavaScript client code, with minimal overhead at the language boundary by modeling it as a GraphQL service. This was also an opportunity to take advantage of features in the latest C++ standards, which I did, but simultaneously I started learning more about Rust. Comparing the C++ that I was able to write without any legacy constraints (other than supporting commonly available compilers on each platform) with the kind of code that I was learning to write more easily and safely in Rust quickly convinced me that I would rather focus on Rust.
Then, In 2021, I was looking into cross-platform WebView libraries, and simultaneously I discovered the https://github.com/microsoft/windows-rs and the Rust WebView bindings which later became https://github.com/tauri-apps/wry. I figured Microsoft was missing an opportunity to define first class Rust bindings to the new WebView2 control on Windows, so I decided to try putting these projects together. The result was https://github.com/wravery/webview2-rs, along with a few PRs to WRY and TAO to perform an initial port from the hand-coded winapi crate to auto-generated first-party bindings using windows-rs.
I believe Tauri is a game changer for client development. It completely solves many of the pain points developing and deploying cross-platform clients with native code and system API requirements, as well as fixing many of the problems with earlier hybrid web frameworks like Electron. By doing all of this with Rust, Tauri is also encouraging a shift to safe systems programming languages. Tauri is perfectly positioned as a platform for client UI development, and I look forward to continuing my contributions to this project as it sweeps across the industry.
I am Jacob Bolda, @jbolda, a software engineering consulting for large enterprise. My employer doesn't generally operate in the "app" space, so I offer my "after work" time instead. This has me positioned as a rather neutral member of the team, and I strive to do what is in Tauri and it's ecosystem's best interest.
Over the years, I led or was involved with many prototypes and first implementations of work we rely on today, such as create-tauri-app, the CI/CD and our documentation website. The "type" of time that I have been able to give has evolved with the project over the years, and in recent years, I have found my time best offered and valued in advising and managing.
I assisted Robin in organizing and establishing the Tauri Programme about 2.5 years and joined as a Board Director. My efforts in organizing and advocating for improving management efforts began the year prior to that. I intend to continue these efforts to organize and establish the Tauri community in the most inclusive way I am able. A "theme" that we have been striving for is improving transparency of the organization and the onboarding into roles to further push the project forward.
As a Director of the Board, I would be able to continue to serve the Tauri community and hone our processes and workflows on the foundations we have established to help our domains achieve the best they are able.
Hello Tauri team,
My name is Zack Chapple and I wanted to take this opportunity to express my interest in joining the board of directors for Tauri.
Over the last 13 years I have been part of numerous technology communities from Java to Angular to Rspack (Rust webpack) as both a consumer but also a contributor. This experience has given me a wide breadth of knowledge for community dynamics and an understanding of the differences between bleeding edge technologies and long established technologies.
With no formal education in software, I started my career in tech as part of a Helpdesk that turned into Java Developer which evolved into Global Architect roles for multiple Fortune 500 companies. Now I am the Chief Revenue Officer for a global staff augmentation and software consulting shop, Valor Software. Over the last three years I have interacted with even more organizations of global scale and I have seen both the good and bad that comes from tech governance.
When I met Daniel from the Tauri team and learned what the foundation is trying to achieve I felt that strategically and personally this project is of interest to me. The last several months I have been helping ByteDance to bring their Rust based webpack to the Western market and have created several strategic partnerships on their behalf. I believe with what I understand of Tauri already and the roadmap I could help grow the platform, the adoption, and the overall community by working closely with and across the individual working groups.
Additionally the influence of being on the board would mean that I would be able to help provide direct perspective based on the organizations we are exposed to and help with prioritization.
I appreciate the opportunity to be considered for the board position and look forward to any responses or feedback.
Zack
Hallo! I'm Robin van Boven (@Beanow), a software engineer based in the Netherlands. Currently I'm a Tauri Board Director, employed by CrabNebula, and would love to continue for another term as a Board Director.
About 2½ years ago I helped with establishing the Tauri Programme and joined as a Board Director. Some of the areas I worked on during this term are:
- Created processes and templates for the Board, to follow regulations more easily.
- Made sure we have multiple admins on important services (reducing our bus factor risk).
- Proposed and co-authored the "Domains and Teams" governance model.
My strengths and what I would bring to the Board are:
- Passionate about the fairness, openness and resilience of Tauri.
- Regular time dedicated to doing work for the Board.
- A critical opinion based on experience in open source and software teams.
I believe my skills are best used to strengthen what we do internally. Improving the foundations for other contributors to rely on. Some areas I would work on if elected for another term:
- Investing in the new governance model, making sure we use it effectively.
- A campaign to improve transparency on all fronts, including a much more visible Board.
- Make it significantly easier for the Working Group to submit proposals to the Board.
A strong internal focus for me personally. Of course there is more to discuss, so I'd be happy to keep sharing my opinions and support other initiatives.
Hello Tauri Community,
I'm david @lemarier, hailing from the beautiful Quebec, Canada. As a French Canadian, I have a deep-rooted love for my culture and heritage. Beyond my love for technology, I am an ardent outdoor enthusiast. Whether it's hunting, fishing, or gardening, being close to nature and striving for self-sufficiency is a passion of mine. Alongside my outdoor hobbies, another fervor that is close to my heart is contributing to open source projects. It is through this passion that I found Tauri.
Now, a fervent advocate and contributor to the Tauri project since 2020, my journey in the tech space has been defined by an insatiable curiosity and drive to improve upon the status quo. My association with Tauri has been one of the most rewarding experiences as it has allowed me to apply my acumen in Rust programming and desktop app development to an innovative project.
With deep knowledge of the inner workings of Tauri, I've been actively involved in the core development of various components. I played a pivotal role in Tauri's fork of winit, which later became known as tao, where I was instrumental in building the first window/app menu and tray. I also ventured into uncharted territories with the development of the first wry iOS proof of concept.
Drawing upon my prior experience, where I led an open-source project that was downloaded hundreds of millions of times, I contributed significantly to the Tauri updater. Those early days in desktop app development were enlightening, as I worked closely with the NWjs team (formerly node-webkit) even before Electron came into existence. Through a series of trials and errors, I learned valuable lessons that have since shaped my contributions to Tauri.
My dedication to the project is not just about codes and components; it's about fostering a community that's innovative, collaborative, and forward-thinking. Tauri is not just a project, it is an embodiment of possibilities that could redefine the way we approach web technology and application development. It is for this reason that I am seeking a position on the Tauri board. Through this role, I want to ensure that Tauri continues to thrive as a project and as a community.
I am excited about the possibility of serving the Tauri community in a more significant capacity and am committed to ensuring the project's goals are in alignment with the needs and aspirations of the community. Together, let's shape the future of Tauri!
Thank you for considering my candidacy.
David