“It is not only Microsoft’s admittance to be running Apache on
some of its MSN Web servers that indicate the growing maturity of
the server software. The loosely knit federation of Apache
developers have formed the Apache Software Foundation, a
not-for-profit corporation which aims to continue Apache’s
development in its open source vein.”
“Apache’s maturity is bolstered by its global takeup. According
to a recent survey, Apache is, now, the software in use by over
half of the world’s Web servers. This trend is set to continue, as
the formation of the ASF will be seen as good news for the
corporate world. It can be a difficult decision to take as an IS
manager, to use the industry standard (and free) Apache, or to
follow a traditional model of buying licensed software which comes
with a nominal offer of support, services and upgrades. The reality
is that the Apache community is as good at supporting its software
as any corporation but making the leap to public domain software is
seen as a bit like voting for the Green party, in some
circles.”