# Groovy development funding

> Discover how Groovy secured major development funding and a full-time committer, poised to revolutionize the Java community in 2007.

Author: [Guillaume Laforge](https://glaforge.dev/) | Published: 2006-12-21 | Topics: groovy | Canonical: https://glaforge.dev/posts/2006/12/21/groovy-development-funding/


The news is on the streets, on eWeek: [Groovy gets funding for its development](http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2074908,00.asp), thanks to Big Sky hiring the most prolific Groovy commiter: [Jochen Theodorou](http://blackdragsview.blogspot.com/). Big Sky is the company behind the [No Fluff Just Stuff symposium tour](http://www.nofluffjuststuff.com/index.jsp) and for their 2007 tour, they will offer a dedicated Groovy and Grails track!

[InfoQ](http://www.infoq.com/news/2006/12/groovy-sponsorship) also features a [nice article](http://www.infoq.com/news/2006/12/groovy-sponsorship) with Jay Zimmerman and Jochen Theodorou's interviews.

In the press release, Jay Zimmerman, the founder of Big Sky had this to say:

> The move will help ensure that "2007 will be remembered in the Java community as the year the Groovy revolution started," Zimmerman said. "With more than 4 million Java developers worldwide, we see a very bright and robust future for Groovy."

I also firmly believe that 2007 will be a milestone in the life of the project and we'll see an amazing adoption rate increase for both [Groovy](http://groovy.codehaus.org/) and [Grails](http://grails.org/). Having a full-time commiter on Groovy will definitely help the project move at a much faster pace.

There's an incredible convergence going around Groovy and Grails these days:

*   Releases of Groovy 1.0 and Grails 0.4
*   A full-time commiter on Groovy
*   Two [books on Groovy](http://groovy.canoo.com/gina) and one on [Grails](http://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Guide-Grails/dp/1590597583/sr=8-2/qid=1165386946?ie=UTF8&s=books&tag2=abougroo-20).
*   A dedicated Groovy and Grails website: [aboutGroovy.com](http://aboutgroovy.com/)
*   Also a dedicated Groovy and Grails conference: the [Grails eXchange 2007](http://skillsmatter.com/grailsexchange)
*   And we're going to hold our third Groovy Developer Conference in Paris at the end of January to pave the roadmap of Groovy 2.0.

Man, that's going to be a Groovy and busy year!

I'm so happy that my friend Jochen can now spend his time on Groovy! Through his hard work, Groovy improved drastically over the years, and has become a widely acclaimed platform of choice for companies needing a powerful dynamic language with the best Java integration possible. Congratulations, my friend!