It is with great sadness that I report the passing of my friend and friend of the xTuple Community, Dan Means. Dan passed away over the weekend.
This Dan Means memorial photo album represents how the xTuple Community will forever remember Dan Means.
Dan jumped into the xTuple world shortly after I did, back in 2004. An experienced ERP man, Dan became a partner, apparently liked what he saw, but immediately found room for improvement. I cannot ever recall Dan approaching me with "a way to fix what's wrong." Instead, Dan offered great advice and counsel, as I, and then Danielle (Kerner) and I, worked to build the xTuple Partner Program. It was Dan that told us about the good old SBT days, and what the opportunities could be. We are grateful for all that Dan did for us, as we have worked to build the xTuple Partner Program.
Dan was an ERP guy, but who wouldn't say that he loved the tech? When I first talked to Dan in 2004, he called himself a Linux geek. He immediately loved the xTuple open source message and saw instantly the connection between what he liked in Linux and what he loved from his SBT-Foxpro days. Dan was excited to be able to keep doing what he did so well in the 80s and 90s — giving his customers EXACTLY what they wanted.
Dan often referred to himself at "an Accounting Guy." He loved to mix it up with his customers' controller or CPA. He loved to get into it with the debits and credits. In my time here at xTuple, I never met someone who so proudly wore both the banner of Linux Geek and Accounting Geek. Man, that was Dan. He ALWAYS had something to add to the accounting discussion on the xTuple Forums.
And the Forums! How many times did we all recognize and thank Dan for his contributions to the Forums? There is a reason that Dan fell into that SBT market. There is a reason that Dan was drawn into Linux and Open Source.
There is a reason he was our greatest xTupler. Dan was a sharer.
I appreciate all that Dan shared with me. I know I speak for all of xTuple when I say that xTuple appreciates what Dan shared with us over the last ten years. Everyone in our xTuple community who knew Dan could come up with a great story about how he helped make xTuple better. As an early partner, as a customer, as a partner again, as a mentor, as a leader, as a friend.
I know I only knew a small part of his life, but I celebrate the Dan Means I knew.
Here's to Dan.
View the video of Dan speaking at xTupleCon13 | It's Closing Time: Reconciliation and Closing the Books | Dan Means, Next ERP System (xTuple Elite Partner) | Session Thu 0315pm 10OCT13
His family maintains a Dan Means Facebook memorial page in his honor.