Written by
The XWiki Team
As we close the chapter on 2024, one thing is clear: it’s been an extraordinary year of achievements, innovation, and milestones. None of this would have been possible without the relentless dedication of our incredible team of XWikiers, who keep everything running like clockwork. This year held special significance as we celebrated our 20th anniversary, a perfect opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come and the progress we’ve made. Let’s take a closer look at the highlights and successes that defined 2024!
- Company Achievements
- Products
- Spread the word
- Looking ahead as we celebrated 2 decades of XWiki
- Wrapping up our 2024
Company Achievements
πΌ Worked with great clients
DE FACTO, BROD, ADMO (EDMO Hubs) — The European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) is a European multidisciplinary community seeking to actively detect, analyze, and expose disinformation campaigns across Europe, while improving public awareness, providing tools for detecting fake news, and designing effective responses for local audiences. XWiki SAS provided the technical solution for DE FACTO, ADMO, and BROD in the form of 3 public websites with advanced content management features for publication, management, fact-checking, and dissemination of information.
University of Lorraine — Following Atlassian's significant price increase, the University of Lorraine wiki team sought a new solution to replace Confluence. They needed a knowledge base that could also serve as an intranet for collaborative editing and documentation, ensuring smooth data transfer and accessibility for staff, teachers, and students. The University of Lorraine's wiki team utilized XWiki’s Confluence Migrator (Pro) to efficiently and accurately transfer over 145,000 pages, 17,000 users, and 315 spaces.
KIT — The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) was searching for an open-source solution to replace Confluence that integrates seamlessly with their existing infrastructure, and offers a granular permission management system. After a thorough evaluation of the options on the market, XWiki was chosen as the optimal solution. The entire consulting, planning, migration and customization process was completed within 10 months, resulting in a highly tailored intranet and documentation system that met all of KIT’s stringent requirements.
And we bid farewell to one of the most rewarding projects we've worked on across the years, that was at the core of the partnership between XWiki SAS and the DINUM. In 2018, we embarked on an ambitious project to create a comprehensive wiki database of all digital administrative services (in French, démarches administratives dématérialisés) for the DINUM. Our mission was to help the French ministries track the status of digitalization within public service, ensuring transparency and efficiency in their operations, witnessing significant milestones that have shaped the evolution of this project.
π€ Founded new strategic partnerships
Nextcloud partnership — As an acknowledgement of the importance of strong collaboration among major open-source projects in the EU, we have embraced a strategic shift through a symbolic investment in XWiki SAS from Frank Karlitschek, Founder and CEO of Nextcloud. Moreover, Nextcloud GmbH and XWiki SAS have signed a mutual resellers' agreement to provide their customers an easy way to purchase a complete solution from either vendor. This move aims to foster partnerships with a fellow EU open-source software product and promote competitiveness against US-based alternatives while safeguarding, as always, software and data control.
π Launched new tools
Analytics Application (Pro) — Our Pro Apps team introduced a game-changing solution that has been in the making for months. Launched in the summer of 2024, this highly requested open-source application delivers powerful analytics right at your fingertips. Seamlessly integrated with your XWiki instance, it brings Matomo web analytics directly to your workflow, empowering you to access actionable insights for your wiki in an instant.
Admin Tools Application (Pro) — This is an invaluable resource for Administrators and the Infrastructure team in your organization. The app provides a wide array of functionalities to help you run your on-prem wiki instance like a pro, optimizing your XWiki installation, maintenance, and resources allocation.
As we always strive to offer the best to our users and customers, we have worked on not only improving our features, but also our offering. In order to simplify the kickstart of any migration project, we have rolled out our new Confluence Migration Toolkit. This is a bundle with all the apps and services that you need to quickly transfer data but also benefit from long-term technical support:
- Confluence Migrator (Pro) for a seamless migration;
- Confluence specific bridge macros for migration and long-term usage in XWiki;
- Task Manager (Pro) and Blog Application (Pro) that will ensure you and your team keep up your daily productivity immediately after the migration;
- Long-term technical support on the core product, Pro Apps, recommended extensions, and community extensions.
Additionally, we're thrilled to inform you that we've introduced support for 3 new heavily requested bridge macros: Page Properties, Page Properties Report, Content by Label. These macros all use CQL — Confluence’s own Query Language. In order to support their migration, we developed a CQL parser which enables us to interpret queries created in Confluence.
π Reconnected with open-source communities at European events
Univention Summit — We kicked off the events season by attending the yearly Univention Summit in Bremen. For this edition, Clément, Ludovic, and Jean-Sébastian represented XWiki and shared a booth with our partners from OpenProject, advocating for digital sovereignty, open-source, knowledge management, and end-to-end encrypted collaborative solutions. As a token of collaboration in action, they showcased openDesk, the collaborative suite made of 100% open-source products, a digital sovereign initiative that is an alternative to Google Workplace and Microsoft 365.
FOSDEM 2024 —Each year, we look forward to attending the biggest free open-source event in Europe, where communities can meet, share ideas and collaborate. Our team organized the “Collaboration and Content Management” devroom, and also participated with a presentation in the Main Track on “20 years of open source building XWiki and CryptPad”.
European Digital Sovereignty and Free and Open-Source Software — For this event, Ludovic, our CEO, was invited at Sciences Po, a high raking, international research university in Paris, to give a talk about Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS). He prepared an eye-opening presentation explaining why FOSS is of utter importance for individuals, society, and organizations. Additionally, the talk covered potential questions students might have regarding the ways FOSS can benefit everyone when compared to proprietary software and especially when it comes to the monopoly held by the Tech Giants.
Digital Workplace — For the 2024 edition, Jean-Sébastien, Ludovic, Clément, and Cédric represented XWiki and CryptPad at our booth and offered insightful details on privacy-oriented collaborative solutions. They also had the honor to discuss the integration of AI into the digital workplace and the future of digital workplaces, collaboration, and intranets as part of 2 roundtables.
AlpOSS — This event, which stands for “Alpes Open-Source Software”, gathers under the same roof key open-source software providers and open-source users and adopters. A particular and even challenging feature of this conference was that each presentation had to fit a very tight time slot of only 15 minutes. Our colleagues, Raphaël and Mathieu, represented XWiki and Raphaël also gave a presentation on openDesk, the European open-source integrated platform, and the advantages it has in front of proprietary software solutions such as Google Workplace and Office 365.
Nextcloud Enterprise Day — This event is the meeting point for leading IT experts and key players of the European IT market. Here, Ludovic and Clément represented XWiki and CryptPad and welcomed guests at our booth to discuss ways in which our 2 software solutions are shaping the future of content collaboration. Additionally, Clément talked about openDesk with a focus on how XWiki and CryptPad can be integrated in Nextcloud Hub for secure document collaboration. He also provided an outlook on the integration of the XWiki software within Nextcloud Files for better knowledge management inside your organization.
Journées du Logiciel Libre — This vibrant event takes place every year in Lyon, and it's the meeting point of FOSS (free open-source software) enthusiasts and professionals, an opportunity to network, exchange ideas and attend or give talks on FOSS-related topics. We had the honor to speak to the public about XWiki and CryptPad's impact on knowledge sharing and organizing information, as well as Cristal, our modern knowledge base front-end and wiki UI, through our 3 presentations held by Ludovic, Fabrice and Clément.
Pas Sage en Seine — This event is an annual festival with a focus on privacy-related society questions and around the hacker community. Fabrice attended the event and gave an insightful talk to explain how CryptPad works. Additionally, InterHack, an aggregation of hackerspaces, also asked him to organize an installation party for CryptPad to show how it can be securely installed for admins.
OW2con'24 — OW2con is an annual open-source event that gathers open-source experts, enthusiasts, and IT professionals to discuss the most recent trends and developments in the field. For 2024, the central theme revolved around open-source funding. Our 2 talks fit perfectly this topic. Clément talked about openDesk, the open-source collaborative suite, financed by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI). Fabrice held a breakout session on CryptPad and the role of open-source in education, science, and research.
OpenExpo Europe — This is a major annual congress and professional fair on IT innovation in Europe. 2024's theme was oriented around the power of GenAI. For this event, Θtefana and Ludovic travelled to Madrid to meet with other industry actors and welcomed visitors at our stand to answer questions about XWiki, CryptPad and WAISE, our new kid on the block that leverages AI to elevate your wiki experience, now available in beta version. Θtefana also held a session about migrating from Confluence to XWiki using our powerful Confluence Migrator (Pro), while preserving all data, macros, users, and permissions.
Smart Country Convention (SCCON) — We kicked off autumn at the Smart Country Convention in Berlin, an event dedicated to digital transformation in public administrations. The 2024 edition was particularly special as it marked the official launch of openDesk, a project we’ve been collaborating on for the past two years alongside other open-source organizations. At the heart of our presence at SCCON was a presentation held by Clément, who captivated the audience with his insights into XWiki’s adaptability. During his session, he demonstrated how teams can build powerful, customized knowledge bases using XWiki’s flexible platform.
IT-SA Expo and Congress — It was the first time for us attending IT-SA Expo and Congress, Europe’s largest event dedicated to IT security. The event brought together cybersecurity professionals, decision-makers, and tech enthusiasts, creating the perfect environment to showcase both XWiki and CryptPad. We were thrilled by the overwhelming interest from visitors, particularly in CryptPad, our privacy-focused collaboration suite. Also, our team representatives had engaging discussions, showcasing live demonstrations of how XWiki can serve as a secure and adaptable solution for managing sensitive business and public sector data.
OMIMO Community Forum — Θtefana presented XWiki at this online event dedicated to open-source tools for project management. This was a fantastic opportunity to showcase how XWiki supports project managers by simplifying workflows and boosting team productivity. The demo sparked great interest among attendees and led to meaningful discussions about how XWiki can transform project management processes.
Capitole du Libre — The event is always a highlight on our calendar, and the 2024 edition didn’t disappoint. It’s one of our favorite events — a celebration of free software and open-source innovation that brings together passionate people from all walks of life. In 2024, we came with a diverse team of XWikiers, including our CEO, Ludovic, and our CTO, Anca. Everyone brought their own energy and expertise to our stand, making it a lively hub for discussions about XWiki, CryptPad, and all things open source. From chatting with developers about technical challenges to brainstorming ideas with advocates and users, we left inspired and full of fresh insights.
Campus du Libre — The event's theme, “Free your devices: flash and install parties 2024” brought together students and open-source enthusiasts to explore how they could swap out Android systems for privacy-respecting alternatives. Our team was excited to showcase both XWiki and CryptPad, sparking conversations about the importance of privacy-conscious software. Attendees were eager to learn how open-source solutions like ours give users more freedom and control over their data.
Open Source Experience — In 2024, we celebrated 20 years of open-source innovation and what better way to mark this milestone year than attend OSXP with our largest presence ever at the event. We were thrilled to sponsor OSXP in 2024 and share exclusive talks, hands-on demos, and offer opportunities to connect with our team, including our founder and CEO, Ludovic, who provided exclusive insights on building and sustaining a successful open-source business.
Nextcloud Enterprise Day in Paris — Designed for IT professionals, project managers, and decision-makers, this event offers insights on how to maximize the value of content collaboration platforms. Clément's presentation highlighted the role XWiki and CryptPad play when in comes to shaping the future content collaboration tools, and how their integration with Nextcloud contributes even more to this mission.
Journées réseaux de l'enseignement et de la recherche (JRES) — This conference brings together researchers and educational institutions. It was inspiring to interact with participants and talk about how XWiki and CryptPad can make knowledge management and collaboration smarter and more secure for the education sector. The focus on digital sovereignty and sustainability really resonated with us, and we were happy to see how these topics were gaining momentum.
π Engaged with students and educated them about open source
Stagii pe Bune — This is an annual spring event gathering young and inquisitive minds looking to apply for internships in various companies. The 2024 edition was in full swing, with hundreds of students attending it, many of them visiting our booth. We were happy to educate them on the open-source topic and introduce them to XWiki and CryptPad. Many of them had already applied to our internships long before attending the event.
FII CODE — This local event took place in IaΘi, Romania, and was dedicated to young students with a passion for programming. Θtefana and Ludovic represented XWiki SAS and took the opportunity to educate young students and discuss with them about the open-source movement seen through the lenses of our 2 products: XWiki and CryptPad. It was a very rewarding experience for the students, but for us as well! Ludovic was also part of the jury that chose the solutions on the winners’ list.
FII IT-ist — The conference takes places annually and is organized by the Computer Science Faculty in IaΘi, Romania, with the aim of educating and guiding university and high school students interested in IT. Our stand was visited by many young people, and we enjoyed the opportunity to educate them about the value of open-source software for society and companies. We were also happy to answer their inquiries about potential career opportunities with XWiki. Our colleagues, Adina and Anca, held a presentation called “The very demure, very mindful way of adaptable frontend” and showed the 2 perspectives that we work with in XWiki on frontend: the product perspective, that is generic and adaptable (anticipating clients' needs) and the client perspective, that is specific and adapted (answering clients' needs).
Forum Étudiants Entreprises — This is a one-day event taking place at CY Tech Cergy and designed to connect students with companies offering internships, work-study opportunities, and entry-level roles. Representing XWiki were Diana Véron, our HR Manager, and Clément Christiaens, our Infrastructure Engineer, who was particularly excited to return to his alma mater, CY Tech, where he was once a student. The forum was a wonderful opportunity to introduce students to XWiki’s mission of fostering open-source collaboration and innovation. Clément’s unique perspective as an alumnus made the conversations especially engaging, as he shared insights from his own journey — from student to engineer at XWiki.
π« …and held our own events
FOSDEM meetup — After co-organizing the "Collaboration and Content Management" devroom for over 5 years at FOSDEM, we felt it was time to take things to the next level. That’s why we brought together the XWiki and CryptPad communities to create something even more special — a space where your ideas flow freely, you can connect with fellow open-source enthusiasts, and enjoy some Belgian beer while doing so. Thus, our first post-FOSDEM meetup was born. The event was animated, filled with great conversations, and people enjoyed it a lot, from friends, partners, to the amazing XWiki team. The energy and enthusiasm were contagious. Building on that success, we’re thrilled to announce our second meetup — this time in collaboration with OpenProject and Nextcloud! Mark your calendars for February 1st, and don’t miss this chance to connect, learn, and share in a vibrant community atmosphere. Check out all the details and secure your spot by filling out this form.
Migrating from Confluence to XWiki - It can't get easier than this — In this webinar, we covered several significant improvements for our Confluence Migrator Application (Pro), that make the migration process more efficient and user-friendly. The live demo showcased the improvements made over the past year, making the migration process even more straightforward. Following the demo, we held a comprehensive Q&A session to address specific use cases and clarify any questions about the migration process. This interactive segment provided valuable insights and practical solutions for common migration challenges.
The first XWiki Summit — As 2024 was the year XWiki turned 20, we took it up a notch: we held a summit that brought together our clients and team members to collaborate, share ideas, and shape the future of XWiki. To top it off, we celebrated with a scenic Seine River cruise alongside our team, alumni, clients, and open-source friends, connecting and enjoying this incredible milestone together.
A hands-on guide to migrating from Confluence: Why it’s more than just a technical shift — During this webinar, we covered practical approaches and real-world advice to make migrations efficient and stress-free. We took the opportunity to showcase our Confluence Migration Toolkit meant to simplify even the toughest migrations, offering features like link mapping, batch migration for large instances, and support for permissions and attachments. We also covered tips to handle tricky elements like macros, permissions, and unique data structures, and strategies to minimize disruptions, reduce downtime, and preserve workflows during the transition. The live demo was followed by expert insights during the Q&A session, addressing specific use cases and challenges.
π Continued to advocate for open source
At XWiki, open source is part of our lifeblood — from the tools we use, to the practices we adopt, and the way we conduct business. In 2024, we gathered a lot of perspectives from our teammates about working in open source through our ongoing series of articles about their professional journeys at XWiki:
We've also continued to use and update our A to Z guide of open-source tools. Additionally, we focused on highlighting through dedicated blog articles the benefits of using open-source software and made compelling recommendations of alternatives to proprietary tools:
Lastly, in 2024 we've formally pledged 1% of our annual recurring revenue to support open-source projects. We selected the top ten recipients of our donations based on the input from our internal teams, considering our own usage, the alignment with our values, and the developers' funding needs. Each donation helps ensure the longevity and growth of these tools. In addition to our FOSS fund, XWiki SAS also subscribes to and supports other open-source software and industry associations that play a crucial role in our operations and the broader OSS landscape. Our membership and support of these associations reflect our dedication to fostering a vibrant and sustainable open-source ecosystem. In case you have an open-source project in mind that we should support, let us know by filling in this form.
Products
XWiki
π§ 16.x cycle overview
In the 16.x cycle, we've been refining and integrating the real-time WYSIWYG editor as the default in XWiki, while introducing new features like manual navigation menu ordering. We've also improved the UI of the notifications watch buttons, added the option to include summaries for attachments, and worked to achieve the WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility compliance. We made additional efforts to transition from Live Table to Live Data, boost performance, fix bugs, and release security updates. Several contributions have been made to our extensions' repository, including releases like Glossary, Machine Translation, Replication, Word-based Notifications, Change Request, and the Interactive Link Visualizer, among others.
We've also launched our first LLM Application (BETA), a server app with a wiki interface and chatbot powered by LLMs for searching, generating, translating, and editing content. Additionally, we had a few releases for Cristal, a modular wiki UI using modern web technologies and supporting multiple backends, including XWiki, to store wiki data.
In total, we fixed 790 issues. A pretty busy year!
π Accessibility in the product
Our main focus is meeting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). To this end, the XWiki SAS Product Team integrated Axe-core, a fast, secure, and lightweight accessibility testing engine, into the existing testing environment to automate accessibility tests. We track our progress on accessibility issues on our public JIRA, where you can also see our created vs resolved issues chart. In the last years, 215 WCAG issues were created, out of which 183 were solved. One of our main goals is to have the XWiki software reach full compliance with WCAG 2.2.
β XWiki Cloud updates
XWiki Cloud is the most convenient and cost-effective way to run XWiki. We take care of the setup, hosting, upgrades, maintenance, and backups, so you can focus on your business. In 2024, our Cloud demo platform was updated to XWiki 15.5.4, which brought new features and bug fixes for a better experience. Currently, the available XWiki Cloud version is 16.4.4.
π CryptPad
On the CryptPad side, many technical and administrative milestones are in progress, including separating the OnlyOffice builds from the main CryptPad code-base, publishing an end-to-end test suite, completely refactoring the support system, enabling custom logos and accent colors to a CryptPad instance, revamping the administration panel, adding an onboarding process for first-time administrators, and many more! The team also completed the CryptPad Blueprints project and launched their Research & Development website which will be the home for all CryptPad-related research. This website is an analysis of CryptPad, a user-stories-based needs analysis, and their relation to proposed solutions (some of which are already live) as well as some prototyping of missing features such as password recovery or the use of CRDTs to pave the way toward offline-first editing. The team has also attended several events where they got to raise awareness about CryptPad and welcomed Andreea for a summer internship with a focus on the OnlyOffice integration. After successfully completed her internship, she joined CryptPad as a part-time Developer.
Another significant achievement is that starting with December 2024, you can test-drive your very own CryptPad instance using CryptPad's Cloud demo service. Simply provide some basic information to launch a demo instance, confirm your email to extend the trial for a few days, and finally subscribe to discover CryptPad's full potential.
π R&D and innovation projects
AI assistant in XWiki (BETA) — In recent months, through the WAISE project, we have developed the first version of our LLM application, which integrates AI-powered functionalities directly into your wiki instance. The application leverages the capabilities of LLMs to enhance content generation, translation, and intelligent knowledge retrieval within your existing workspace, while offering you flexibility and control over your data through the chosen model. This way, you can rest assured that your sensitive information remains private and secure, while you also upscale operations with the AI-assistant.
- Cristal, a new wiki UI — We've done a few releases in 2024 that brought improvements and new features. Thus, we currently support 2 design systems: Shoelace and Vuetify, and it's possible to switch by configuration. We migrated the editor to Tiptap which now benefits from several improvements for the edition of tables and images, as well as the possibility to drag and drop blocks.
Spread the word
Every day, our team works hard to make XWiki even better by implementing new features, improving the existing ones, or sharing useful tips. Be it via chats, emails, our help center, or articles, we want to make sure everyone gets the best out of their instance. Below is a short list of the pieces we put together in 2024:
π Knowledge sharing for better experiences
- Open-source knowledge base software: our top 6 picks
- How wikis enhance university collaboration and knowledge sharing
- How to build a knowledge base for marketing teams
- How Santa's elves manage Christmas operations with XWiki
π‘ Guides for easier usage
- 7 image features in XWiki to enhance your wiki
- How to add links to diagrams in XWiki
- How to improve the accessibility of your digital content
- The complete guide to the XWiki hosting solutions
Looking ahead as we celebrated 2 decades of XWiki
π Consolidated the team
At XWiki, not only we advocate for the values of open source, but we also practice what we preach. This and the passion and motivation that drive us to pursue common goals are the recipe for a powerful and successful team that continued to grow and evolve significantly in 2024. We’re proud to say that 2024 was the year of zero goodbyes at XWiki. Instead, we kept growing stronger and closer together, welcoming stellar additions to our squads: Josué, Serena, Pauline, Florian, Lorina, Claudiu, Gabriel, Martin as a 3-months intern, Andreea, Alexandru, and welcomed back Alina.
Back in September, we attended the 16th edition of one of our company's most awaited events: the XWiki Seminar! What made the 2024 edition so special? Celebrating 20 amazing years of XWiki with a memorable Summit and an incredible party on the Seine! It was the first time we organized a summit, but it sure won't be the last one. The room was buzzing with energy as team members, clients, and partners gathered to celebrate 2 decades of open-source innovation. As for the seminar, this year’s theme was Fort Boyard, the XWiki way, and we embraced it with fun team-building activities at Les Jardins de l'Atlantique in Talmont Saint Hilaire.
The seminar was also a time to get down to business. We attended inter-team sessions where we brainstormed new ways to improve, and the CryptPad team led an inspiring session on cryptology and privacy, sparking valuable discussions. Our annual hackathon was another highlight, bringing teams together to develop innovative features and push the limits of what XWiki can do.
π Carried on with our 4-day work week fortnightly formula
Back in 2022, we began experimenting with a day off every two weeks, a bold step towards reimagining our work-life balance. Since then, we’ve made it a priority to assess the impact of this approach each year. In 2024, as in previous years, XWikiers shared some important benefits: sharper focus and a noticeable boost in morale, motivation, and creativity. We’re still learning valuable lessons in balancing workload and days off during some crowded periods, and prioritizing along the way.
While we're not yet at 100% adoption, we are seeing an improvement and are working at creating an environment that supports work-life balance. Transitioning to a full 4-day work week remains our ambitious goal for the coming years that continues to inspire and drive us toward a more sustainable future of work.
Wrapping up our 2024
Marking 20 amazing years of XWiki, we are more excited than ever about the road ahead. The world of open source is evolving, and XWiki SAS is ready to grow with it. At the same time, we remain deeply committed to keep privacy, transparency, and digital sovereignty at the core of everything we do, while staying faithful to our Manifesto.
Our goal is to continue creating ethical, sustainable software that serves the needs of our community. We are excited for the next chapter and all the possibilities it holds. — Ludovic Dubost, Founder and CEO of XWiki SAS
Lastly, a warm and heartfelt thank you to every single person that has been part of our journey. Whether you’ve contributed code, shared feedback, or simply used our software, you’ve played a role in shaping XWiki. We couldn’t have come this far without you, and for that, we are deeply grateful.
