An Ironman for open source

In my post about "How to create a successful open source company", I mentioned "Think IRONMAN" as one of the key elements:

Most people that went public with a proprietary company will tell you "it was a marathon". Open source companies are in the Ironman category. That is "SWIM 2.4 MILES! BIKE 112 MILES! RUN 26.2 MILES". The race ends with a marathon, but you have to swim a lot and bike a ton before you even start the marathon. Aggregating a large community takes years, there is nothing money can do to accelerate the process. It is a natural long process with phenomenal fruits at the end. But you have to be patient.

Clearly, I was thinking about Daniele, when I wrote this ;-) You might have met him at LinuxWorld, OSCON, 3GSM and other conferences (or online). He just represented Italy (and Funambol, and the open source movement in general) at the Ironman World Championship in Florida. He made it to the end. Strong and patient as an open source guy. You need stamina in this world...