History
ownCloud gives you universal access to your files through a web interface or WebDAV. It also provides a platform to easily view & sync your contacts, calendars and bookmarks across all your devices and enables basic editing right on the web. Installation has minimal server requirements, doesn’t need special permissions and is quick. ownCloud Server is extendable via a simple but powerful API for applications and plugins.
ownCloud started with a keynote by Frank Karlitschek at Camp KDE’10 where he talked about the need of a self-controlled free and open source cloud.
Two years later, Frank announced the start of ownCloud Inc.
The company makes it possible for developers to work full time on ownCloud, organizing ownCloud events, marketing ownCloud to a wider audience and supporting companies, governments and schools in their ownCloud deployments.
The business model of ownCloud Inc. is very similar to other successful Open Source companies, offering services and support around ownCloud for the enterprise. The company is dedicated to working entirely in the open, accelerating development in the areas of its customers' needs while enabling a completely open development process where everybody can contribute.
ownCloud History Timeline
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ownCloud 9.0 released
March 2016
introducing improved scalability (worked on with CERN), federation and collaboration tools including comments and tags (announcement)
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Spreed Brings Private Video Calls to ownCloud
February 2016
A 2.5 pound (1.1kg) aluminum cube with an oDroid and some custom hardware integrates ownCloud with the spreed webconferencing software, aiming at consumers and SMB.
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ownCloud grows to 8 million users
January 2016
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End of 2015 statistics
codebase grown to 2.4 million LOC average of 84 contributors/month estimated 8 million users worldwide
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ownCloud Collaborates with Collabora and Western Digital
December 2015
Western Digital approached ownCloud to build a Raspberry Pi based private cloud storage and Collabora wants to bring LibreOffice Online to ownCloud.
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ownCloud 8.2 released
October 2015
introducing improved Design, new Gallery app, Notifications and file retention control for deletions and versions (announcement)
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Desktop Client 2.0 released
August 2015
introduces multiaccount support (announcement)
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ownCloud, Inc. introduces Security Bug Bounty program
August 2015
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Second ownCloud Contributor Conference
August 2015
Almost 140 participants (overview blog)
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ownCloud Federated Cloud Sharing API available
August 2015
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ownCloud picks up Smashbox from CERN
July 2015
CERN developed a testing framework for ownCloud which was adopted for testing ownCloud. See this blog post with details.
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ownCloud 8.1 launched
July 2015
introducing improved Documents, Release Channels, Encryption 2.0 (announcement)
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ownCloud 8 launched
February 2015
introducing Federated Cloud Sharing, improved search and favorites (announcement)
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SCIEBO launches
February 2015
aiming for up to 500,000 ownCloud users (announcement)
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ownCloud rocked at FOSDEM and SCALE
February 2015
see the events blogpost
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End of 2014 statistics
codebase grown to 2.2 million LOC average of 76 contributors/month estimated over 1.6 million users wordwide
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Workshop at CERN
November 2014
blog about the visit by Klaas Freitag
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New office Nuremberg
November 2014
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iOS client open sourced
November 2014
See the announcement blog
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ownCloud 7 Enterprise Edition
November 2014
introduces Universal File Access (announcement)
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New office in Stuttgart
August 2014
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opening of Berlin office
August 2014
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First ownCloud Contributor Conference
August 2014
100 participants (conference report)
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ownCloud 7 launched
July 2014
introducing server-to-server sharing and improved user management (announcement)
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Stuttgart Meetup
May 2014
Meetup at the office in Stuttgart
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ownCloud and Red Hat partner up
April 2014
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ownCloud, Inc. closes 6.3 million Series A Funding Round
March 2014
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Mobile libraries released under open license
February 2014
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ownCloud becoming big in Education
February 2014
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End of 2013 statistics
codebase grown to 2 million LOC average of 62 contributors/month estimated over 1 million users worldwide
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ownCloud 6 launched
December 2013
introducing improved design, activity feed, avatars, previews, conflict handling and more (announcement)
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ownCloud Documents launched
October 2013
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Opening of official Lexington office
September 2013
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TU Berlin Developer Meeting
August 2013
First time at the TU Berlin brought together 50 participants (blog)
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ownCloud 5 Enterprise Edition
July 2013
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GNOME integrates ownCloud in the desktop
March 2013
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ownCloud 5 launched
March 2013
introducing the trash bin and much security, stability and performance work (announcement)
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February developer meeting
February 2013
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End of 2012 statistics
codebase grown to 773K LOC average of 35 contributors/month estimated over 650,000 users worldwide
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ownCloud, Inc. runs second funding round
November 2012
raising 2.5 million USD (press release, coverage)
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Integration with ownCloud
November 2012
starts to appear everywhere (blog post)
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ownCloud 4.5 launched
October 2012
introducing external storage, syncing contacts/calendar, presentation and video players (announcement)
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Double EU/US sprint
October 2012
Read the announcement blog and the report from the US meetup with four participants. There were over a dozen participants at the meetup in Europe.
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ownCloud iOS app launched, Android app rebooted
August 2012
Read the announcement blog
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Fourth Developer Meeting
August 2012
18 participants worked on ownCloud, as mentioned in this blog post.
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All major distro's ship ownCloud
July 2012
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Businessweek thinks ownCloud is 'hip'
June 2012
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ownCloud 4 launched
May 2012
introducing file encryption and versioning, LDAP and more (announcement)
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Desktop Sync Client released
April 2012
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Third developer meeting
April 2012
19 participants (blog)
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ownCloud Inc. First commercial offering
April 2012
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Partner program launched
March 2012
First customer signed up, partners follow soon (announcement)
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ownCloud Partners with Univention
February 2012
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ownCloud 3 launched
January 2012
introducing text editor, introduction of ownCloud apps, PDF viewer and photo gallery (announcement, press release)
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End of 2011 statistics
codebase grown to 212K LOC average of 12 contributors/month estimated 350,000 users worldwide
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ownCloud, Inc. announced
December 2011
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Second Developer meeting
October 2011
7 participants got together in Zurich, hosted by github.com/FreeMinded
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ownCloud 2.0 launched
October 2011
introducing calendar and contact syncing, sharing and a media player (announcement)
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First meeting Holger, Markus and Frank
July 2011
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ownCloud 1.2 launched
April 2011
introducing much improved UI and many bugfixes (announcement).
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First developer meeting
April 2011
5 participants. Work on ownCloud 2.0 started, building a framework for apps. Read the meeting report here.
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First ownCloud hosting provider
February 2011
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End of 2010 statistics
codebase grown to 70K LOC average of 3 contributors/month estimated tens of thousands of users already
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ownCloud 1.1 launched
November 2010
introducing user management and built in text viewer (announcement).
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ownCloud-in-a-box appliance launched
July 2010
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ownCloud 1.0 launched
June 2010
introducing a web interface and webDAV, plugin system and notifications (announcement)
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ownCloud 1.0 beta released
March 2010
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ownCloud project launched
January 2010
At Camp KDE in San Diego by Frank Karlitschek
