Apache Software Foundation Celebrates 22 Years of Open Source Innovation : @VMblog
The Apache
Software Foundation (ASF) announced its 22nd Anniversary.
Originally
established by the 21-member Apache Group, who oversaw the then-3-year-old
Apache HTTP Server, the ASF today is the world’s largest, vendor-neutral, Open
Source foundation, comprising 800+ individual Members, 8,100+ Committers, and
40,000+ code contributors located on every continent. Conservatively valued at
more than $22B, Apache’s 350+ projects and 37 incubating podlings are all
freely-available to the public-at-large, at 100% no cost, and with no licensing
fees.
“Over the
past 22 years the ASF has evolved to meet the growing needs of the greater
community,” said Sander Striker, Board Chair of The Apache Software
Foundation. “The ASF enables people from all over the world to
collaborate, develop, and shepherd the projects and communities that are
helping individuals, sustaining businesses, and transforming industries.”
Advancing its
mission of providing software for the public good, the ASF’s projects are
integral to nearly every aspect of modern computing, benefitting billions
worldwide. The “Apache Way” process of community-led, collaborative
development has led to breakthrough innovations in Artificial Intelligence and
Deep Learning, Big Data, Build Management, Cloud Computing, Content Delivery
and Management, Edge Computing and IoT, Fintech, Identity Management,
Integration, Libraries, Messaging, Mobile, Search, Security, Servers, and Web
Frameworks, among other categories. Projects undergoing development in the
Apache Incubator span AI, Big Data, blockchain, Cloud computing, cryptography,
deep learning, email, IoT, machine learning, microservices, mobile, operating
systems, testing, visualization, and more.
Nearly half a
million people participate in ASF projects and initiatives, including
ApacheCon, the ASF’s official global conference series; Community Development,
which oversees contributor onboarding and mentoring and programs such as Google
Summer of Code; and Diversity & Inclusion, whose programs promote diversity,
equity, and inclusion across the greater Apache community.
The ASF’s
influence is everywhere -countless ubiquitous and mission-critical applications
across dozens of industries are powered by Apache projects; the Apache License
2.0 was the top-ranked Open Source license in 2020 (source: WhiteSource); the
Apache Way is the backbone for open development and inner source environments;
and new users, developers, and enthusiasts are onboarding to the greater Apache
community every day (the ASF has been a Google Summer of Code mentoring
organization for the past 16 years, since the program’s inception). The ASF is
the top-ranked Open Source not-for-profit organization with the most stars on
GitHub (source: GitHub).
A just-released
feature on the ASF in FOSSlife states, “The Apache project has
undeniably changed the world … Apache remains a crucial Web server, the most
popular in the field. For building Open Source communities, the lessons learned
by creating the project still resonate throughout the open source world. Every
project is advised to respect the Apache value of ‘community over code’.”
ASF operations
bolster Apache projects and their communities with infrastructure support,
bandwidth, connectivity, servers, hardware, development environments, legal
counsel, accounting services, trademark protection, marketing and publicity,
educational events, and related administrative assistance. As a United States
private 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charitable organization, the ASF’s day-to-day
operating expenses are offset through tax-deductible sponsorships, corporate
contributions, and individual donations. Current ASF Sponsors are:
Platinum:
Amazon Web Services, Facebook, Google, Huawei, Microsoft, Namebase, Pineapple
Fund, Tencent, and Verizon Media.
Gold:
Anonymous, Baidu, Bloomberg, Cloudera, Confluent, IBM, Indeed, Reprise
Software, Union Investment, and Workday.
Silver: Aetna,
Alibaba Cloud Computing, Capital One, Comcast, Didi Chuxing, Red Hat, and
Target.
Bronze:
Bestecasinobonussen.nl, Bookmakers, Casino2k, Cerner, Curity, GridGain, Gundry
MD, Host Advice, HotWax Systems, Journal Review, LeoVegas Indian Online Casino,
Miro-Kredit AG, Mutuo Kredit AG, Online Holland Casino, ProPrivacy, PureVPN,
RX-M, RenaissanceRe, SCAMS.info, SevenJackpots.com, Start a Blog by Ryan
Robinson, Talend, The Best VPN, The Blog Starter, The Economic Secretariat,
Top10VPN, Twitter, and Writers Per Hour.
Targeted
Platinum: Amazon Web Services, CloudBees, DLA Piper, Fastly, JetBrains,
Leaseweb, Microsoft, OSU Open Source Labs, Sonatype, and Verizon Media.
Targeted Gold:
Atlassian, Datadog, Docker, PhoenixNAP, and Quenda.
Targeted
Silver: HotWax Systems, Manning Publications, and Rackspace.
Targeted
Bronze: Bintray, Education Networks of America, Friend of Apache Cordova,
Google, Hopsie, No-IP, PagerDuty, Peregrine Computer Consultants Corporation,
Sonic.net, SURFnet, and Virtru.
“It is an
honor to support Apache, an organization responsible for such an astounding
amount of Open Source projects that truly make up the fabric of the Internet.
Here’s to all that’s been accomplished in the last 22 years – we can’t wait to
see what the future of open development brings.” -Robert van der
Meulen, Global Product Strategy Lead at Leaseweb Global