By Rachel Chalmers
The Apache Group has announced the creation of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF). This international volunteer effort is dedicated to the support of open-source software projects based on the collaborative model of the Apache HTTP Server Project. The ASF will provide organizational, legal and financial support for the projects, and will seek to ensure their continuity beyond the participation of individual volunteers. Incorporating Apache also makes it possible for donations to be tax-deductible, and provides a vehicle for limiting the legal exposure of contributing developers.
The Foundation will oversee all Apache activities, but the technical aspects of each project will continue to be governed by the individual project teams. Projects will be required to remain open to new contributors via internet collaboration, and software can only be distributed via a set of approved open-source licenses. Beyond those provisions, however, the new corporation promises not to interfere with the day-to-day running of projects.
Ironically, even as the Apache Group cements its legal status – testimony to its extraordinary success in establishing its open source web server as the internet standard – the future of the open source browser project Mozilla appears to be in doubt. Speaking at the Enterprise Outlook conference in Burlingame, California, Sun Microsystems Inc executive Alan Baratz said: I’m not sure Mozilla.org is working all that well. We’re looking at what the options are.
Sun’s involvement in Mozilla came about as a result of the complex three-way deal between America Online Inc, Netscape Communications Corp and Sun in November last year, which saw Netscape acquired by AOL. At the time, AOL chief executive Steve Case assured Mozilla contributors that the project had his personal support. Six months down the track, Mozilla has lost its chief visionary, Jamie Zawinski, and still hasn’t delivered anything more than the Gecko HTML layout engine. Little wonder that Sun is asking questions.
