The global open-source community is currently hard at work behind the scenes on an exciting new initiative. Visitors to Opensource.com may have recently noticed a distinct quietness across the publication’s usual publishing schedule, but this lull is far from a sign of inactivity. Instead, it marks a period of transition and development as organizers and contributors lay the groundwork for a brand-new project. While specific details regarding the exact nature, scope, and launch mechanics of the upcoming venture are still tightly under wraps, there is already a vibrant conversation brewing within the community about what comes next. To understand the magnitude of this upcoming shift, organizers suggest looking back at the foundational infrastructure of the internet itself and the deeply human network that has always driven the open-source movement forward.
The internet, and top-level domains
To fully appreciate the scope of modern digital communities, it helps to examine how the broader internet is structured. Most internet users understand the network simply as a vast digital space, but by definition, a network is fundamentally a group of connections. In fact, the very word "internet" is a portmanteau combining the concepts of "interconnected" and "network." In its earliest days, the internet was a much smaller, highly specialized ecosystem consisting primarily of two distinct branches: a military network and an academic network designed for specialized research and data sharing.
As personal computing advanced and the internet began to achieve widespread popularity outside of those two initial groups, it quickly became apparent that distinct designations were urgently needed. The growing digital landscape required a system to clearly differentiate between various types of digital entities—separating, for instance, a commercial enterprise from a charitable organization, an institution of higher education, or a branch of government.
These essential designations eventually came to be known as top-level domains, commonly abbreviated as TLDs. Today, internet users can choose from a massive array of TLD extensions, but for a long period in internet history, only a handful existed. These original TLDs remain remarkably popular and culturally embedded in the web today. Most internet users intuitively recognize that navigating to a .com address typically leads to a commercial website, whereas visiting a .org domain directs them to a non-profit organization dedicated to a specific public mission, cause, or community service. These suffixes serve as digital signposts, immediately communicating the underlying purpose and identity of the organization behind the screen.
Open source is a network
Open source, much like the broader internet, can manifest in many different forms, serving various roles across society. It can be commercial, driving enterprise software and global technology infrastructure; it can be non-profit, supporting public-interest tools and open standards; it can be academic, fostering research and collaborative learning; or it can be cultural, preserving shared knowledge and creative works.
However, no matter what specific form open source takes in any given instance, it always operates fundamentally as a network. Sometimes that network consists of interconnected computers, servers, repositories, and distributed codebases. Yet most importantly, and at its very core, it is a network of people.
Whether contributors are gathering physically at a bustling international conference, casually meeting up at a local pub during a community meetup, or collaborating asynchronously in an online chat room, the open-source phenomenon is, above all else, a community of human beings working toward shared goals.
For the past twelve years, the website Opensource.com has been generously supported by a commercial entity, providing a dedicated digital platform for sharing ideas, success stories, and educational resources about open-source adoption. However, the people—the individuals like you and me who form the beating heart of the Opensource.com community—are not corporate entities or commercial assets. We are people, bound together by shared values of collaboration, transparency, and community-driven innovation.
Now, after more than a decade of publication under its current structural model, that dynamic is evolving. In exactly one month, Opensource.com is set to take a major step forward and resolve this organizational puzzle, ushering in a fresh chapter for the community. Stay tuned for further announcements as the details unfold.
