Apache Software Foundation: 10 Projects That Are Making a Difference
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The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is one of the most important and influential players in the modern open-source software development community. The ASF is perhaps still best known for its eponymous Web server, the Apache HTTP Server project, commonly referred to as "Apache." Apache has dominated the Web landscape since its creation in 1995 and currently holds the largest share in the Web server market. While the Web server is an important ASF project, it is currently just one out of over 100 projects that are operated by the open-source foundation. Among those projects are other hugely influential efforts such as the Apache Hadoop project. Hadoop has emerged in recent years to become the de facto standard technology behind the big data revolution. Apache is also home to the Lucene and Solr projects, which provide open-source search software. On the desktop user side, Apache is now the home to the OpenOffice project, which was originally started by Sun Microsystems and later operated by Oracle. eWEEK takes a look at some of the well-known and some lesser-known ASF projects.
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Apache Software Foundation: 10 Projects That Are Making a Difference
by Sean Michael Kerner
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Apache HTTP Continues to Dominate the Web
Apache's claim to fame has long been that it is the No. 1 HTTP Web server. As of August 2013, Apache HTTP powers 46.96 percent of the Web.
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A Simple Configuration File Is at the Core of Apache HTTP
A simple file known as httpd.conf serves as the main configuration file for an Apache Web server, providing all the key directives and options.
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Apache Traffic Server Provides a Fast-Caching Proxy
The HTTP Web server is one of many Web-serving technologies that the ASF hosts. The Apache Traffic Server project was first started by Yahoo and provides a fast-caching proxy server that can accelerate page delivery and response times.
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Apache Tomcat Is a Widely Deployed Java Application Server
When it comes to Java application deployment, the Apache Tomcat project is a popular choice. There are a number of large Web properties that use Tomcat, including Walmart and The Weather Channel.
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Apache Hadoop Leads the Big Data Revolution
The Apache Hadoop project has become synonymous with big data in recent years. The Hadoop project includes multiple associated efforts at Apache, including HBase (a database for structured data storage), Hive for data warehousing and the ZooKeeper coordination service.
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Google's Not the Only Search Engine Technology
While Google dominates the consumer public search engine space, Apache has made a good run of its own, helping enterprises with its open-source Lucene search software project. The Apache Solr project builds on top of Lucene to deliver an enterprise search platform.
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OpenOffice Has Been Downloaded Over 60 Million Times
In 2011, a year after Oracle completed its acquisition of Sun Microsystems, Oracle donated the Apache OpenOffice project to the ASF. OpenOffice includes word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing and database components. According to the project, OpenOffice has cumulatively been downloaded over 60 million times.
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Apache Bloodhound Tracks Down Development
Among the newer efforts at Apache is the Bloodhound project, which is a fork of the open-source Trac effort. Bloodhound enables users to keep track of tasks and manage projects.
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CloudStack Pushes Open-Source Cloud Computing Forward
CloudStack has its roots in a company known as Cloud.com that was acquired by Citrix in July 2011. In April 2012, Citrix moved CloudStack development to the ASF in a bid to expand the community and open-source developer interaction. The most recent version of CloudStack is the 4.1 release that debuted in June of this year.
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Will Apache Let the Wookie Win?
Among the lesser known projects at Apache is Wookie. Named after the fictional creature of the same name in the Star Wars universe, Wookie is a Java server for widgets.
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