The community is hard at work on something new. Regular visitors to Opensource.com may have noticed a distinct quietness settling over the platform lately. That hush is not a sign of slowing down, but rather the opposite: a period of intense preparation behind the scenes. There is a brand-new project currently in the works, and while specific details are still being kept under wraps for the moment, there is already plenty to talk about as the platform looks toward its next chapter. What better way to start an ambitious new journey than by engaging with the entire internet?
The Internet, and Top-Level Domains
To understand where the community is heading, it helps to look at the very fabric of the space it inhabits. Most internet users know that the internet is, fundamentally, a network. A network, by definition, is a group of connections working in tandem. In fact, the word "internet" is a portmanteau derived from "interconnected" and "network." The internet is a massive, sprawling network of interconnected networks.
Originally, the modern internet consisted of just two foundational networks: the military network and the academic network. These early digital corridors connected researchers, defense personnel, and select institutions. However, once the internet began to gain popularity and utility outside of those two specialized groups, it quickly became apparent that different designations were desperately needed. Officials and engineers realized they needed a way to instantly differentiate between, for instance, a commercial entity, a charitable organization, a university, or a governmental department.
These critical designations became known as top-level domains, commonly abbreviated as TLDs. Today, there are countless TLDs available, ranging from niche geographic identifiers to industry-specific suffixes. But for a long time, the global digital landscape was organized using only a handful of options. Those original TLDs remain remarkably popular and ubiquitous to this day. Most internet users intuitively know that when they navigate to a ".com" address, they are visiting a commercial site. Conversely, when they visit a ".org" address, they understand they are exploring the digital home of a non-profit organization. These extensions serve as digital neighborhoods, signaling the intent and nature of the entities behind the screens.
Open Source Is a Network
Just as the internet is built on layers of connections, open source can represent many different things to many different people. It can be commercial, driving enterprise-grade software and corporate infrastructure. It can be non-profit, empowering grassroots movements and public-interest technology. It can be academic, fostering university-level research and student collaboration. It can even be entirely cultural, shaping how creators share art, documentation, and ideas.
No matter what specific form open source takes, however, it is always fundamentally a network. Sometimes, that network consists of computers communicating across global servers, sharing code repositories, and running distributed systems. But more importantly, at its very core, open source is a network of people.
Whether people are gathering physically at an international conference, meeting informally at a local pub, or collaborating in a fast-paced online chat room, open source remains a vibrant, human-centric community. Technology is the medium, but the community is the heartbeat.
For the past twelve years, the website Opensource.com has been generously supported by a commercial entity. That corporate backing provided the infrastructure, stability, and resources necessary to grow the platform into a leading voice for open source advocacy, news, and storytelling. Yet, the people—the individuals like you and me—who truly make up the Opensource.com community are not commercial entities. We are people, bound by shared values, collaborative spirit, and a passion for open technology.
The upcoming changes aim to realign the platform with this deeply human foundation. In exactly one month, Opensource.com is going to resolve that long-standing bug and unveil what has been brewing in the background. Stay tuned for further developments as the community takes its next big step forward.
Opensource.com publishes stories about creating, adopting, and sharing open source solutions. You can follow their ongoing updates on Twitter via @opensourceway. This work is made available to the public under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License, ensuring that the spirit of openness extends from the code we write to the very words we publish.
