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+Welcome to Observium users
+--------------------------
+
+LibreNMS is a fork of Observium.  The reason for the fork is nothing to do
+with Observium's [recent move to community vs. paid versions][1].  It is
+simply that we have different priorities and values to the Observium
+developers.  We decided to fork (reluctantly) because we like using
+Observium, but we want to collaborate on a community-based project with
+like-minded IT professionals.  See [README.md][2] and the references there
+for more information about the kind of community we're trying to promote.
+
+LibreNMS was forked from [the last GPL-licensed version of Observium][3].
+This has a few implications:
+- It doesn't look as nice as the current version of Observium.
+- We've lost quite a bit of functionality that has been added to Observium
+  in the last year.
+- You won't be able to take an existing Observium installation later than
+  r3251 and just change it to LibreNMS.  This would probably break (although
+  if you were on a version between r3250 and the next database schema
+  change, it might be feasible).  Upgrades from versions earlier than r3251
+  might work.  Please try it on an unimportant system and tell us your
+  experiences!
+
+How LibreNMS will be different from Observium:
+- We will have an inclusive community, where it's OK to ask stupid
+  questions, and OK to ask for things that aren't on the roadmap.  If you'd
+  like to see something added, add or comment on the relevant issue in our
+  [GitHub issue database][9].
+- Development decisions will be community-driven.  We want to make software
+  that fulfills its users' needs.  See the [ROADMAP][4] for more thoughts
+  on our current plans.
+- Development will probably proceed at a slower pace, at least initially.
+- There are no plans for a paid version, and we don't anticipate this ever
+  changing.
+- There are no current plans for paid support, but this may be added later
+  if there is sufficient demand.
+- We use git for version control and GitHub for hosting to make it as easy
+  and painless as possible to create forked or private versions.
+
+Reasons why you might want to use Observium instead of LibreNMS:
+- You have a financial investment in Observium and aren't concerned about
+  community contributions.
+- You need the extra functionality that has been added to Observium since
+  r3250.
+- You don't like the [GNU General Public License, version 3][5] or the
+  [philosophy of Free Software][6] in general.
+
+Reasons why you might want to use LibreNMS instead of Observium:
+- You want to work with others on the project, knowing that [your
+  investment of time and effort will not be wasted][7].
+- You want to add and experiment with features that are not a priority for
+  the Observium developers.  See [CONTRIBUTING][8] for more details.
+
+[1]: http://postman.memetic.org/pipermail/observium/2013-October/003915.html
+"Observium edition split announcement"
+[2]: https://github.com/librenms/librenms/blob/master/README.md
+"LibreNMS README"
+[3]: http://fisheye.observium.org/rdiff/Observium?csid=3251&u&N
+"Link to Observium license change"
+[4]: https://github.com/librenms/librenms/blob/master/doc/ROADMAP.md
+"LibreNMS ROADMAP"
+[5]: https://github.com/librenms/librenms/blob/master/LICENSE.txt
+"LibreNMS copy of GPL v3"
+[6]: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
+"Free Software Foundation - what is free software?"
+[7]: http://libertysys.com.au/blog/observium-and-gpl
+"Paul's blog on what the GPL offers users"
+[8]: https://github.com/librenms/librenms/blob/master/doc/CONTRIBUTING.md 
+"Contribution guidelines"
+[9]: https://github.com/librenms/librenms/issues
+"LibreNMS issue database at GitHub"
+