For Chapter 21, I have chosen the www.apache.org web link to surf in depth. I
have learned that The Apache Software Foundation
(ASF) is a non-profit organization incorporated in the
In this web site, I am interested in the Apache
HTTP Server Project. The October 2003 Netcraft
Web Server Survey found that more than 64% of the web sites on the Internet
are using Apache, thus making it more widely used than all other web servers
combined. The Apache server is free and it could be downloaded off the website.
Currently there are two versions. They are the 1.3 and the 2.0. I have learned
why the Apache server is free. According to them, Apache
exists to provide a robust and commercial-grade reference implementation of the
HTTP protocol. They believe the tools of online publishing should be in the
hands of everyone, and software companies should make their money providing
value-added services such as specialized modules and support, amongst other
things. They say that it is often seen as an economic advantage for one company
to "own" a market - in the software industry that means to control
tightly a particular conduit such that all others must pay. This is typically
done by "owning" the protocols through which companies conduct
business, at the expense of all those other companies. To the extent that the
protocols of the World Wide Web remain "unowned" by a single company,
the Web will remain a level playing field for companies large and small. Thus,
"ownership" of the protocol must be prevented, and the existence of a
robust reference implementation of the protocol, available absolutely for free
to all companies, is a tremendously good thing.
I personally think that because it is free, that why many
people are using it.