As recently as 5 years ago, I barely understood the meaning of Open Source. I had been working with computers for my entire life (I was using a Commodore 64 before I could walk). I had been programming them nearly as long (I wrote my first program before I started grade school). I was an early adopter of Linux (I still have a Red Hat 1 disk somewhere). But I never guessed the impact that open source would have on my life. I never appreciated the impact that open source would have on the world. The past 5 years have changed me forever. This is my story.