I don't animate these days, but I remember the day I first tried Blender back when it was version 1.4 (I think - it fit on a floppy then). What caught my eye was that the entire UI was rendered in OpenGL, one could pan and zoom everything, even the 2d tool panels. That little detail hinted at good design. And I loved the tiling UI so much. I used Blender for several animation commissions at a time when studios had never heard of it. The Blender community was always one of the friendliest, most helpful I've ever had the pleasure of being part of. The Blender institute, under the direction of Blender's original author is a superb example of how to grow a successful project and community.
I remember downloading it on the internet connection at school, copying it to a floppy, and bringing it home. My school had some classes in 3D Studio Max, but there was no way I could get a copy of that. So Blender and another program called Nendo were my toys. I didn't have any money when they were paying to open source it, but I was definitely cheering from the sidelines!
