The vibrant community behind Opensource.com is hard at work on something new. Regular visitors to the publication may have noticed a distinct quietness settling over the platform lately. That temporary pause in publishing is due to an exciting new project currently in the works. While organizers and community members note that there are not yet many specific details to announce regarding the exact nature of the upcoming venture, there is already an abundance of foundational topics to discuss. And what better way to begin exploring this next evolution than by looking at the very fabric of the global network that connects us all: the entire internet itself.
The Internet, and Top-Level Domains
To understand where the Opensource.com community is heading, it is helpful to look back at how modern digital infrastructure came to be. Most internet users know that the internet is fundamentally a network. By definition, a network is a group of interconnected connections. In fact, the very word "internet" is a portmanteau derived from "interconnected" and "network."
In its earliest days, the internet was a much smaller, more specialized system consisting primarily of two distinct networks: the military network and the academic network. These closed environments served specific institutional needs and operated under strict controls. However, once the technology began to gain widespread popularity outside of those initial two groups, it quickly became apparent that a more scalable system of organization was necessary.
As the digital landscape expanded, society needed ways to differentiate between various types of entities inhabiting the digital space. For example, people needed a reliable method to distinguish a commercial business from a charitable organization, a university from a governmental department, or a hobbyist project from an enterprise venture.
To solve this organizational challenge, engineers and architects developed designations known as top-level domains, commonly referred to as TLDs. Today, there are countless top-level domains available, ranging from broad global categories to specific geographic regions and niche industries. However, for a long time, there were only a handful of these designations governing the domain name system.
Those original top-level domains remain remarkably popular and culturally embedded in the architecture of the web today. Most internet users intuitively understand their significance. When navigating to an address ending in .com, visitors recognize immediately that they are interacting with a commercial site designed for business or retail purposes. Conversely, when typing a web address ending in .org, users know they are navigating to a non-profit organization dedicated to a public service, advocacy, or community mission. These suffixes act as digital signposts, immediately communicating the fundamental nature and intent of the organization behind the screen.
Open Source Is a Network
Just as the internet relies on a foundational network of interconnected systems, the open source movement operates as a multifaceted network of its own. Open source can take many different forms depending on the context, the participants, and the goals of the project. It can be commercial, driving enterprise software solutions and business models. It can be non-profit, supporting public goods and digital sovereignty. It can be academic, fostering research and technological experimentation. It can also be cultural, shaping how creators share art, documentation, and ideas.
No matter what form it ultimately takes, open source is always, at its core, a network. Sometimes that network is literal—a vast web of interconnected computers, servers, repositories, and distributed version control systems. But most importantly, open source is a network of people.
Whether individuals are gathering in person at a massive international technology conference, meeting casually at a local pub to discuss code, or collaborating asynchronously in an online chat room, the open source movement is fundamentally a community of human beings working together toward shared goals.
For the past twelve years, the website Opensource.com has been supported by a commercial entity, providing a stable platform for writers, advocates, and practitioners to share their experiences and insights. Yet, the people who truly comprise the heart and soul of the Opensource.com community—the writers, editors, advocates, readers, and contributors—are not commercial entities. They are individual people with a shared passion for collaborative creation, openness, and community-driven technology.
Now, after more than a decade of storytelling and community building, that dynamic is preparing for a new iteration. In just one month, Opensource.com is going to resolve that longstanding structural bug, aligning the platform’s organizational structure more closely with the human community that has sustained it for years. Stay tuned as these developments unfold.
