In the Netherlands, Mage-OS NL is very well known, especially for organizing Meet Magento NL. Outside of the Netherlands, Mage-OS is pretty well known. They share almost the same name, but the difference is not always clear, especially for Dutchies.
As a former board member of Mage-OS NL and current board member of Mage-OS, I found it was time to write about this.
How Mage-OS was founded
In 2018, Adobe purchased the Magento brand with all assets. Magento back then, and still today, consisted of roughly two products: open source and commerce (paid version).
The years after the acquisition, it became clear to a bunch of people that Adobe didn't have any intentions to keep the open source version alive. All indicators were pointing to the fact that Adobe was only interested in the enterprise version.
And this is where a bunch of people stood up. They relied on Magento with their business. This is where Mage-OS came from: people that relied on Magento for their profession that wanted to make sure that Magento didn't suddenly disappear.
In 2021, community leaders came together around a shared concern: the Magento ecosystem needed an independent, community-owned organization to champion its interests and ensure its long-term success. - mage-os.org
A lot of things have changed in the relationship between Adobe and Magento. The Magento Association got founded, which is now in charge of the Magento open source brand. Adobe still invests in Magento, but not in the way it did before the acquisition.
Mage-OS is still thriving, and today its main product is the Mage-OS distribution. A fork on top of Magento.
Why Mage-OS matters to you
So what does this mean in practice? The Mage-OS distribution builds on top of Magento. It ships faster updates and adds community-driven improvements that Adobe doesn't prioritize. It's a drop-in replacement for Magento, and several agencies and merchants in the Netherlands are already running it in production.
How Mage-OS NL was founded
Pre-Covid, there was a rich and blooming Magento community in the Netherlands. We had Meet Magento, and there were several meetups organized.
Covid killed that for a while, but after Covid it stayed silent. This was partly due to the organizers of Meet Magento NL stepping outside of the Magento community and moving to a different sector.
In late 2022, a bunch of people came together and decided it was time to start organizing things again. A meeting was organized in Utrecht, and ideas were gathered on how to organize all this. And last but not least: suggestions for names were gathered.
Around that time, Mage-OS was gathering traction, it was the underdog, they were the cool kids on the block. So the name "Mage-OS NL" was suggested quite a few times.
In early 2023, things got official: a foundation was founded under the name of "Mage-OS NL". And that year, the first Meet Magento since 2019 was organized, including the first few drinks.
So what's the difference?
Now the big question: what's the difference? And are there any similarities?
I think the way both organizations describe themselves puts it pretty clear:
Mage-OS exists to keep Magento Open Source truly open, community-governed, and future-proof.
Mage-OS NL is a branch organization, with the goal of bringing the Magento community closer together.
So their goals are totally different. One builds an open-source fork (Mage-OS), while the other tries to bring the community together (Mage-OS NL). Or is it?
The primary goal of Mage-OS NL is to bring the community together. While it's not its primary goal, Mage-OS also brings the Magento community closer together. They have weekly tech meetings where a lot of people join, organize hackathons, and other events.
What about the Magento Association?
I mentioned them before, but how do they fit in this picture? The Magento Association is responsible for the Magento brand. While Adobe makes sure that Adobe (Magento) Open Source keeps up to date, it's up to the Magento Association to promote the Magento brand, and to make sure that Adobe Open Source evolves.
Part of their responsibilities is overseeing Meet Magento events. And that's where a big overlap is. Because that's one of the events that Mage-OS NL organizes. And members of Mage-OS visit a lot of Meet Magento events.
In the end we are all one big community :-)
So how can you help?
All three organizations are run largely by volunteers, but they all can use help to support their cause.
The Magento Association is currently looking for ambassadors.
Mage-OS NL is always looking for new members and people to help with marketing and organizing events.
Mage-OS is always looking for people to help with developing new features, code review, creating new modules, etc.
But overall, they can use members and sponsors. Are you a professional working in e-commerce? Consider becoming a member. Is your company working with Magento? Consider becoming a sponsor.
It will help Mage-OS to speed up the development of new, much-wanted features that make the lives of merchants better.
It will help Mage-OS NL to organize more and better events and gatherings, bringing people together more and more.
It will help the Magento Association to promote the Magento brand in general to more merchants (plus, Adobe will match all incoming money up to $200K).
The puzzle
At the end of the day, we are all part of the Magento Community. Just working on different parts of the puzzle. If you care about keeping it healthy, consider pitching in (with time, membership or sponsorship).
See you at the next meetup :-)
