Recent changes to Background_Story

Background_Story modified by Vidar Hasfjord

Vidar Hasfjord — Sat, 11 Jul 2026 11:56:53 -0000

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 - **Arve Hasfjord** — an independent civil engineer (coincidentally related to Vidar Hasfjord) who also showed great interest in the software, providing valuable feedback and assisting with customer training.
 

 - **Great users** — who provided constructive and supportive feedback; Thor Egil Lauvvang, Jan Andreassen, Håvard Buset, Oddbjørn Ringset, Håkon Kvile, Odd Ivar Ekker, Marit Pettersborg, Arne Holen and Fríður Dalsgarð, to name a few.
-

+

+- **The OWLNext Community** — the administrators, developers and users who kept the Object Windows Library — at the core of Lima VVA — alive and well for all the years since Borland abandoned it in 1997. In particular, **Ognyan Chernokozhev**, the project's lead administrator, whose steadfast efforts over decades have ensured that the library has kept evolving alongside modern C++ and Windows developments.
+

 - **Microsoft Copilot AI** — helped with the English translation of Lima VVA 5, and has also assisted with documentation and code review.

Background_Story modified by Vidar Hasfjord

Vidar Hasfjord — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 05:19:47 -0000

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 - **Arve Hasfjord** — an independent civil engineer (coincidentally related to Vidar Hasfjord) who also showed great interest in the software, providing valuable feedback and assisting with customer training.
 

-- **Great users** — who provided constructive and supportive feedback; Thor Egil Lauvvang, Jan Andreassen, Håvard Buset, Oddbjørn Ringset, Håkon Kvile and Fríður Dalsgarð, to name a few.
+- **Great users** — who provided constructive and supportive feedback; Thor Egil Lauvvang, Jan Andreassen, Håvard Buset, Oddbjørn Ringset, Håkon Kvile, Odd Ivar Ekker, Marit Pettersborg, Arne Holen and Fríður Dalsgarð, to name a few.
 

 - **Microsoft Copilot AI** — helped with the English translation of Lima VVA 5, and has also assisted with documentation and code review.

Background_Story modified by Vidar Hasfjord

Vidar Hasfjord — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 23:27:31 -0000

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 As part of this partnership, Norkart also provided courses and training material for using Lima VVA and GISLINE together.

 

+### Norkart's takeover bid
+
+In early 2010, after preliminary discussions over the previous year, Vidar Hasfjord and Magnulf Rise met with Norkart's board and executive team to explore a possible takeover of Lima VVA. Norkart wished to integrate the functionality of Lima VVA into their own solutions, and proposed acquiring the rights to the software while hiring Vidar Hasfjord to lead the integration effort. However, the parties were unable to agree on key terms — particularly valuation, the role and compensation of Rektangel AS, and the long‑term vision for Lima VVA's development — and the deal ultimately fell through. Even so, both sides agreed to continue the collaboration.
+
+

 ## Credits

 The following are notable contributors to the Lima VVA software, in order of appearance:

Background_Story modified by Vidar Hasfjord

Vidar Hasfjord — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 22:23:49 -0000

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 ## Notable Use Cases  

-Over the years, Lima VVA has been used in a wide range of practical engineering tasks in Norway. Municipal engineering offices and consultants have relied on the software for local road construction and upgrades, forest and agricultural access roads, and early‑phase feasibility studies where quick geometric feedback and earthwork estimates are essential. The VVA functionality has also supported water and wastewater trench design, helping planners evaluate gradients, depths and mass calculations. The software has also been used for vertical alignment design for small hydropower stations, which are widespread in Norway. Other applications of the earthwork functionality include landfills, sea walls and building sites, among others. A particularly notable example of an unusual application is the extension of the airfield at Vágar Airport in the Faroe Islands.
+Over the years, Lima VVA has been used in a wide range of practical engineering tasks in Norway. Municipal engineering offices and consultants have relied on the software for local road construction and upgrades, forest and agricultural access roads, and early‑phase feasibility studies where quick geometric feedback and earthwork estimates are essential.
+
+The VVA functionality has also supported water and wastewater trench design, helping planners evaluate gradients, depths and mass calculations. The software has also been used for vertical alignment design for small hydropower stations, which are widespread in Norway. Other applications of the earthwork functionality include landfills, sea walls and building sites, among others. A particularly notable example of an unusual application is the extension of the airfield at Vágar Airport in the Faroe Islands.

 In addition, Lima VVA has been used in education at many engineering colleges around Norway, serving as a teaching tool for introducing students to road design and earthwork calculation. The ease‑of‑use of the software made it particularly attractive in the classroom, and from the earliest days, licences were provided free of charge for educational use.

Background_Story modified by Vidar Hasfjord

Vidar Hasfjord — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:33:28 -0000

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 Over the years, Lima VVA has been used in a wide range of practical engineering tasks in Norway. Municipal engineering offices and consultants have relied on the software for local road construction and upgrades, forest and agricultural access roads, and early‑phase feasibility studies where quick geometric feedback and earthwork estimates are essential. The VVA functionality has also supported water and wastewater trench design, helping planners evaluate gradients, depths and mass calculations. The software has also been used for vertical alignment design for small hydropower stations, which are widespread in Norway. Other applications of the earthwork functionality include landfills, sea walls and building sites, among others. A particularly notable example of an unusual application is the extension of the airfield at Vágar Airport in the Faroe Islands.

-In addition, Lima VVA has been used in education at many engineering colleges around Norway, serving as a teaching tool for introducing students to road design and earthwork calculation. The ease‑of‑use of the software made it particularly attractive in the classroom, and from the earliest days, licenses were provided free of charge for educational use.
+In addition, Lima VVA has been used in education at many engineering colleges around Norway, serving as a teaching tool for introducing students to road design and earthwork calculation. The ease‑of‑use of the software made it particularly attractive in the classroom, and from the earliest days, licences were provided free of charge for educational use.

 

 ## Interoperability with Norkart GISLINE

Background_Story modified by Vidar Hasfjord

Vidar Hasfjord — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:29:12 -0000

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 Over the years, Lima VVA has been used in a wide range of practical engineering tasks in Norway. Municipal engineering offices and consultants have relied on the software for local road construction and upgrades, forest and agricultural access roads, and early‑phase feasibility studies where quick geometric feedback and earthwork estimates are essential. The VVA functionality has also supported water and wastewater trench design, helping planners evaluate gradients, depths and mass calculations. The software has also been used for vertical alignment design for small hydropower stations, which are widespread in Norway. Other applications of the earthwork functionality include landfills, sea walls and building sites, among others. A particularly notable example of an unusual application is the extension of the airfield at Vágar Airport in the Faroe Islands.

-In addition, Lima VVA has been used in education and in the maintenance of legacy projects, where long‑term access to design files remains important.
+In addition, Lima VVA has been used in education at many engineering colleges around Norway, serving as a teaching tool for introducing students to road design and earthwork calculation. The ease‑of‑use of the software made it particularly attractive in the classroom, and from the earliest days, licenses were provided free of charge for educational use.

 

 ## Interoperability with Norkart GISLINE

Background_Story modified by Vidar Hasfjord

Vidar Hasfjord — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 20:43:37 -0000

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 The functionality of the software (renamed "Lima VVA" with the 4.8 release) was extended and maintained under Rektangel AS until 2017, when Magnulf Rise stepped down and Vidar Hasfjord assumed all rights and responsibilities. The Lima VVA software was then released with an open-source licence, making the software freely available for anyone to use.

-At the same time, Vidar Hasfjord founded Hasfjord Software AS — a company providing customer support and maintenance contracts to users of Lima VVA in Norway. In early 2026, with a dwindling number of customers, Vidar Hasfjord decided to retire the business, and the remaining assets of the company were acquired by Gjeilo Camping in May 2026.
+At the same time, Vidar Hasfjord founded Hasfjord Software AS — a company providing customer support and maintenance contracts to users of Lima VVA in Norway. The company operated from 2017 to 2026. Then, with a dwindling number of customers, Vidar Hasfjord decided to retire the business, and the remaining assets of the company were acquired by Gjeilo Camping in May 2026.

 During its peak decade from 2006 to 2016, Lima VVA consistently maintained between 60 and 70 active maintenance contracts throughout Norway.

Background_Story modified by Vidar Hasfjord

Vidar Hasfjord — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 20:15:42 -0000

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 In the following years, the software was marketed and further developed by the company office in Ålesund. Meanwhile, the company changed name and ownership from Østlandskonsult to Interconsult, then to ICG, before it was acquired by COWI and the office in Ålesund was closed in 2003. The full rights to the software were then taken over by Vidar Hasfjord, the main developer, and Magnulf Rise, the founder and general manager of Rektangel AS.

-The functionality of the software (renamed "Lima VVA" with the 4.8 release) was extended and maintained under Rektangel AS until 2017, when Magnulf Rise stepped down and Vidar Hasfjord assumed all rights and responsibilities. The Lima VVA source code was released with an open-source licence the same year, making the software freely available for anyone to use.
+The functionality of the software (renamed "Lima VVA" with the 4.8 release) was extended and maintained under Rektangel AS until 2017, when Magnulf Rise stepped down and Vidar Hasfjord assumed all rights and responsibilities. The Lima VVA software was then released with an open-source licence, making the software freely available for anyone to use.

-Also in 2017, Vidar Hasfjord founded a support company, Hasfjord Software AS, offering commercial support and maintenance contracts to users of Lima VVA in Norway. The company operated from 2017 to 2026, providing customer support and ensuring that the software continued to perform well with the latest hardware, file standards and Windows versions.
+At the same time, Vidar Hasfjord founded Hasfjord Software AS — a company providing customer support and maintenance contracts to users of Lima VVA in Norway. In early 2026, with a dwindling number of customers, Vidar Hasfjord decided to retire the business, and the remaining assets of the company were acquired by Gjeilo Camping in May 2026.

-Hasfjord Software AS was acquired by Gjeilo Camping in May 2026 ([news](https://sourceforge.net/p/lima-vva/blog/2026/04/maintenance-agreements-for-lima-vva-4-ending/?limit=100#c731)).
+During its peak decade from 2006 to 2016, Lima VVA consistently maintained between 60 and 70 active maintenance contracts throughout Norway.

-During its peak decade from 2006 to 2016, Lima VVA consistently maintained between 60 and 70 active maintenance agreements throughout Norway.
+

+## Open-Source Era

-Lima VVA is now established as an open project at [SourceForge](https://sourceforge.net/projects/lima-vva), a provider of services for collaboration on development and maintenance of free software, where developers and users can take part in discussion, support and further work on the software.
+Since 2017, Lima VVA is now an open-source project at [SourceForge](https://sourceforge.net/projects/lima-vva), a provider of services for collaboration on development and maintenance of free software, where developers and users can take part in discussion, support and further work on the software.

 At SourceForge, Vidar Hasfjord ([vattila](http://sourceforge.net/u/vattila)) has also been a leading contributor to [OWLNext](https://sourceforge.net/projects/owlnext), the framework on which Lima VVA is built.

Background_Story modified by Vidar Hasfjord

Vidar Hasfjord — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 19:20:37 -0000

--- v24
+++ v25
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@

 In the following years, the software was marketed and further developed by the company office in Ålesund. Meanwhile, the company changed name and ownership from Østlandskonsult to Interconsult, then to ICG, before it was acquired by COWI and the office in Ålesund was closed in 2003. The full rights to the software were then taken over by Vidar Hasfjord, the main developer, and Magnulf Rise, the founder and general manager of Rektangel AS.

-The functionality of the software (renamed "Lima VVA" with the 4.8 release) was extended and maintained under Rektangel AS until 2017, when Magnulf Rise stepped down and Vidar Hasfjord assumed all rights and responsibilities. The Lima VVA source code was released with an open-source licence the same year, and the software is now freely available for anyone to use.
+The functionality of the software (renamed "Lima VVA" with the 4.8 release) was extended and maintained under Rektangel AS until 2017, when Magnulf Rise stepped down and Vidar Hasfjord assumed all rights and responsibilities. The Lima VVA source code was released with an open-source licence the same year, making the software freely available for anyone to use.

 Also in 2017, Vidar Hasfjord founded a support company, Hasfjord Software AS, offering commercial support and maintenance contracts to users of Lima VVA in Norway. The company operated from 2017 to 2026, providing customer support and ensuring that the software continued to perform well with the latest hardware, file standards and Windows versions.

Background_Story modified by Vidar Hasfjord

Vidar Hasfjord — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 12:51:29 -0000

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 ## Notable Use Cases  

-Over the years, Lima VVA has been used in a wide range of practical engineering tasks in Norway. Municipal engineering offices and consultants have relied on the software for local road upgrades, forest and agricultural access roads, and early‑phase feasibility studies where quick geometric feedback and earthwork estimates are essential. The VVA functionality has also supported water and wastewater trench design, helping planners evaluate gradients, depths and mass calculations. The software has also been used for vertical alignment design for small hydropower stations, which are widespread in Norway. Other applications of the earthwork functionality include landfills, sea walls and building sites, among others. A particularly notable example of an unusual application is the extension of the airfield at Vágar Airport in the Faroe Islands.
+Over the years, Lima VVA has been used in a wide range of practical engineering tasks in Norway. Municipal engineering offices and consultants have relied on the software for local road construction and upgrades, forest and agricultural access roads, and early‑phase feasibility studies where quick geometric feedback and earthwork estimates are essential. The VVA functionality has also supported water and wastewater trench design, helping planners evaluate gradients, depths and mass calculations. The software has also been used for vertical alignment design for small hydropower stations, which are widespread in Norway. Other applications of the earthwork functionality include landfills, sea walls and building sites, among others. A particularly notable example of an unusual application is the extension of the airfield at Vágar Airport in the Faroe Islands.

 In addition, Lima VVA has been used in education and in the maintenance of legacy projects, where long‑term access to design files remains important.