The community is hard at work on something new. Regular visitors to Opensource.com may have noticed a noticeable quietness settling over the platform lately. That temporary pause in publishing is because there is a brand-new project actively in the works behind the scenes. While specific details regarding the exact nature of this upcoming venture remain under wraps for the moment, there is already plenty to discuss about the broader philosophy guiding the transition. What better way to start exploring this next chapter than by looking at the very fabric of the internet itself, and the fundamental ways in which people connect across the digital landscape?
The internet, and top-level domains
To understand where the community is heading, it helps to examine where the digital world began. Most internet users know that the internet is, at its core, a network. By definition, a network is simply a group of connections linking different nodes together. In fact, the very word "internet" is a portmanteau combining "interconnected" and "network."
Historically, the modern internet grew out of an integration of earlier systems, originally consisting of two primary networks: the military network and the academic network. These early iterations served specific, highly controlled groups of researchers and defense personnel. However, once the internet began to gain widespread popularity outside of those two initial environments, it quickly became apparent that different designations were desperately needed. Officials and engineers realized they needed a way to visually and technically differentiate various types of digital entities—such as distinguishing a commercial enterprise from a charitable organization, a university from a governmental department, or an individual from an institution.
These vital designations are formally known as top-level domains, or TLDs. While there is a vast array of available TLD extensions accessible today, for a long time, the domain name system relied on only a handful of foundational suffixes. These original TLDs remain remarkably popular and culturally embedded in the web today. Most everyday internet users know instinctively that when they navigate to a web address ending in .com, they are visiting a commercial site operated for business purposes. Conversely, when they visit a web address ending in .org, they understand they are navigating to a non-profit website, typically dedicated to a public service, advocacy, or community mission.
These suffixes were never just technical routing mechanisms; they were early signals about the intent, governance, and identity behind the digital spaces people chose to visit.
Open source is a network
Just as the internet relies on a web of connections, the open source movement can be understood through its own distinct network architecture. Open source can manifest in many different forms, serving a multitude of different purposes across society. It can be commercial, driving enterprise software and global economic infrastructure. It can be non-profit, supporting public-interest technology and open standards. It can be academic, fostering university research and scientific collaboration. It can even be cultural, preserving shared knowledge, creative works, and digital heritage.
No matter what form it ultimately takes, open source is always fundamentally a network. Sometimes, that network consists of physical computers, servers, and repositories exchanging code across continents. But most importantly, and most powerfully, open source is a network of people.
Whether those individuals are gathering physically at an international conference, chatting casually over drinks at a local pub, or collaborating asynchronously in an online chat room, the beating heart of open source is its community. Technology does not build, maintain, or secure itself; human beings do.
The website Opensource.com has proudly published stories about creating, adopting, and sharing open source solutions for twelve years, supported during that time by a commercial entity. Yet, the people—meaning the writers, readers, contributors, maintainers, and advocates that make up the vibrant Opensource.com community—are not corporate entities. They are real people with a shared passion for openness, collaboration, and community-driven technology.
Now, after more than a decade of sharing those crucial stories under its current model, Opensource.com is preparing to resolve that structural disconnect. In exactly one month, Opensource.com is going to roll out its next evolution to address this very bug. Stay tuned for the full announcement as the community steps forward into its next chapter.
