The community behind Opensource.com is hard at work on something new. Regular visitors to the platform may have noticed a distinct quietness settling over the site lately. That temporary lull is due to an ambitious new project currently in the works. While specific details regarding the upcoming initiative are still under wraps and not yet ready for a formal public rollout, there is already plenty to discuss about the philosophy, history, and human connections driving this next chapter. And what better way to start a conversation about a massive collaborative effort than by looking at the entire internet itself?
The internet, and top-level domains
To understand where open source communities are heading, it helps to revisit how the global digital landscape was built. Most people know that the internet is a network. A network, by definition, is simply a group of connections bound together. In fact, the term "internet" is a portmanteau combining "interconnected" and "network."
Originally, the internet was a smaller, more specialized system consisting of two primary pillars: the military network and the academic network. These foundational roots allowed researchers, defense personnel, and early computer scientists to exchange data and coordinate projects across vast distances. However, once the internet began to gain widespread popularity outside of those two insulated groups, it quickly became apparent that different designations were urgently needed.
As the digital ecosystem expanded to include everyday commerce, public discourse, and education, the need to categorize web spaces arose. A mechanism was required to easily differentiate a commercial entity from a charitable organization, a university from a governmental department. These vital designations are known as top-level domains, or TLDs.
Today, there are countless TLDs available for purchase and deployment, ranging from niche industry tags to geographic indicators. But for a long time, the digital frontier was defined by only a handful of original extensions. Those original TLDs remain remarkably popular and culturally embedded in the web’s architecture. Most internet users intuitively understand that when they visit a website ending in a .com address, they are navigating a commercial site, whereas a visit to a .org address signifies a non-profit organization, advocacy group, or community foundation. These suffixes became shorthand for the underlying intent and structure of the organizations operating behind the screen.
Open source is a network
Just as the internet relies on a web of interconnected connections, open source can be many things, yet it always operates as a network. Open source software and culture can take on a commercial form, driving enterprise business models and global cloud infrastructure. It can be non-profit, fueling public-interest software foundations that champion digital rights and accessibility. It can be academic, powering research institutions and laboratories where students and professors collaborate on groundbreaking scientific tools. It can also be cultural, shaping how artists, writers, and creators share their works with the world.
No matter what specific form open source takes, it is fundamentally a network. Sometimes—though certainly not always—that network is composed of physical computers, servers, and repositories routing packets across the globe. But most importantly, it is a network of human beings.
Whether people are gathering physically at an international conference, chatting casually at a local pub after a meetup, or collaborating synchronously and asynchronously in an online chat room, open source is, at its core, a community of people working together toward shared goals. It is driven by human curiosity, mutual aid, and the desire to build and share tools that benefit everyone.
For the past twelve years, the website Opensource.com has been supported and sustained by a commercial entity. Corporate backing has allowed the platform to grow, host stories, and serve as a central hub for discussions surrounding open source technologies and philosophies. However, the people—meaning the writers, readers, contributors, and advocates, which is to say, you and me—who make up the actual Opensource.com community are not commercial entities. We are people.
The vibrant discourse, the shared experiences, and the passion for collaborative development come from individuals rather than corporate balance sheets. Recognizing this distinction is essential as the platform looks toward its future. In just one month, Opensource.com is going to resolve that misalignment, bridging the gap between corporate support and human-driven community identity.
Stay tuned as the next evolution of Opensource.com unfolds.
