We were invited to do a presentation about The History of Java in the TDC'2012 conference in Brazil. Yes, we'll talk about the Green Project, and we'll mention James Gosling, and Sun, and Oracle... But honestly, this is the story everyone knows about... What we _really_ would love to talk about is a bit of the personal stories of the many thousands (millions!) of Java developers, and where those stories cross each other and how they relate back to Java. After all, YOU made Java what it is! Would you tell us how Java influenced your life, what you witnessed in the history of Java, what you did that contributed to make Java the Java we all love? No need to tell a long story: you can tell several short stories, as many as you want. Just tell us when and where each short story happened, so we can create a timeline that relates what happened in your life to Java's history.

We will choose a few stories to be featured in the presentation, but all the stories will be available in a web site in the near future.

Languages: stories can be written in English or in Portuguese.

To give you an idea of what we are looking for, here is an example of a short story we wrote:

"Told by: Fabiane Nardon
 When it happened: 2001
 Where it happened: São Paulo/Brazil
 Ttitle: My first JavaOne
 Story: "What very few people know is that my career as a Java expert started because of a backpack. In 2001 I met with Bruno Souza and he had this awesome backpack with the Java logo shining on it. I asked him what I had to do to get a backpack like that and he said: "Easy! Just submit a presentation proposal to JavaOne and, if they approve it, they will give you a backpack". I thought that was a crazy idea, no way they would accept my presentation at JavaOne. But, since I was working with Java for a few years already and had some pretty good work to show, I decided to risk it. To my surprise, the presentation was accepted and I went to San Francisco to get my backpack. They scheduled my presentation to 11pm. I remember that I thought that nobody would be there at that time and my presentation would be probably cancelled. But the room was completely full and some people had to sit on the floor to watch it. I think that was one of the best presentations I ever did. After that, the several JavaOnes I attended gave me more 10 backpacks, a Duke's Choice Award, a keynote participation with Scott McNealy, a documentary about my project and dozens of new friends. But that first backpack is still the coolest of them all."

Now it is your turn! Tell us your story!

Bruno Souza and Fabiane Nardon