It is quite literally true to say that Mambo is an Open Source success story. The original program was developed by the Australian software company Miro, who released the code to the Open Source community under the terms of the GNU GPL in March of 2001. Until August of 2005, the development of Mambo was controlled by a loosely organized community of volunteers. During the course of development, Mambo grew in complexity and ability and won a number of awards together with a wide following of loyal users. Version 4.5.2 of Mambo was downloaded 1.8 million times!

In August 2005, the Mambo Foundation was formed, signaling a new era for the system. The Foundation is a non-profit corporation whose sole purpose is the growth and development of Mambo. The Foundation is run by the members of the community. Membership in the Foundation is open to all and entitles members to elect their representatives on the Board of Directors and to participate more fully in matters affecting the development of the project.

Non-profit structures like the Mambo Foundation have been used successfully by GNOME, Eclipse, Mozilla and many other Open Source projects. The non-profit corporate structure is popular, at least part, because it adds a level of stability and accountability absent in ad hoc community driven projects. The existence of the Mambo Foundation means that users of Mambo can be assured that the code will remain Open Source, will remain backed by a transparent and accountable organization, and will have the ongoing support and promotion that gives developers and business users the confidence to choose Mambo over other systems.

If you would like to become involved in the development of Mambo and be a part of the dynamic Mambo community, please contact us at