Linux, Unix, open, open source, web servers, email, e commerce
SOURCE: CNN
Open-source software running the Internet under the radar
Tuesday, July 20, 2004 Posted: 10:05 AM EDT (1405 GMT)
SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- It powers more than 70 percent of all Web servers and routes much of the world's e-mail traffic. It makes surfing the Internet simple and provides the muscle behind Google Inc.'s search engine and countless e-commerce sites.
It's open-source software, a wide spectrum of programs developed not under the lock and key of a single company but by the communal efforts of volunteers who often start with little more than common interests and e-mail discussion groups. Now, the software once branded the byproduct of dreamers, academics and hobbyists is the foundation of the Internet economy. It's forcing established companies to rethink their business models. And it's giving Microsoft Corp. and other entrenched entities a run for their money. The best known open-source software, the Linux operating system, has grabbed a chunk of the server business once held by the Unix operating system, a field dominated by vendors like Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. Now Linux is emerging as a desktop contender.
Another open-source operating system, FreeBSD, is a basic building block of Apple Computer Inc.'s Mac OS X.
Even less visible projects are making an impact. The Apache project created the world's leading Web server, the software that relays content to Web browsers. Sendmail invented e-mail standards and remains a contender today. Even the basic task of translating a Web address from common words into numbers is predominantly handled by an open-source undertaking, the Berkeley Internet Name Domain project, or BIND.
All share a simple philosophy: Grant a free license to users, include the software blueprints and let anyone make improvements with as few restrictions as possible. Sometimes, depending on the license, improvements must be made freely available.
"Our belief was if you give this really generous license, it builds the biggest audience possible," said Brian Behlendorf, a founder of Apache. "And if you do that, you inherently build the largest pool of people interested in contributing back.
"Call it idealism," he said. "It's certainly very idealistic, but it works."...
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