iText is rooted in the Open-Source community
Over 20 years ago, the code that formed the basis for the iText PDF library as we know it today was written in an open-source environment.
Even today, its code remains open-source.
Because we believe in open-source software. Software created by and for developers - whether users play with our code just for fun, for personal projects, or for commercial purposes.
And, when deployed in commercial environments, we embrace the principle “we’re open if you’re open”. In line with that thinking, we chose the AGPLv3 license type.
As our code became more widely-used, a company was built around it. A company with a truly global presence – just like the millions of our open-source users. That means that no matter where you are in the world, there’s a developer of iText not too far away. You can find us in the US (Boston), Europe (Belgium) and Singapore. We’re here to serve you and the rest of our community as we keep the open-source spirit alive.
As we and our customer base grew, so did our product portfolio. As we continued to innovate, our product roadmap developed in two streams:
- one focusing on adding value to the open-source community, and
- another in enhancing our value to our clients.
Each stream flows back into the other, with commercial licenses funding the further development of our open-source technology. This dual roadmap will continue to give shape to iText into the future.
Open-Source is our future
Our vision remains to serve the developer community and world with open-source technology. All of our developers are keen to collaborate with you, our users. Your contributions and your experiences mean a lot to us.
You can help us to further develop our open-source technology. We encourage you to report bugs, submit pull requests, build interesting projects with iText (and let us know about them), or answer questions on Stack Overflow. Let’s help each other.
Our team is active on GitHub, Stack Overflow and the numerous developer conferences in the world (though many are now virtual since a bug like Covid came along). Feel free to pull not only requests, but also tug our sleeve when you encounter one of us. We love to meet as many of you as possible!
It's a real pleasure to see iText and our community thriving. Let’s thrive together.
See you out there, in the community!
Gary Fry, CEO, and Raf Hens, CTO at iText Software
17th January 2022.