Readers visiting Opensource.com lately may have noticed a distinct quietness across the platform. While the daily flow of articles has temporarily slowed, the silence is far from a sign of inactivity. Instead, the community behind the long-running publication is hard at work on something entirely new. While specific details regarding the upcoming project remain under wraps for the moment, there is already plenty to discuss about the philosophy, history, and future of the platform. And what better way to begin framing this next chapter than by looking at the very fabric of the internet itself?
The Internet, and Top-Level Domains
To understand where the Opensource.com community is heading, it helps to revisit where the digital world began. Most people already know that the internet is fundamentally a network. By definition, a network is simply a group of interconnected connections—in fact, the word "internet" itself is a portmanteau combining "interconnected" and "network."
In its earliest days, the internet consisted primarily of just two distinct networks: the military network and the academic network. As the technology matured and gained popularity outside of those two specialized groups, it quickly became apparent that different designations were necessary to help users identify the nature of various digital entities. Authorities needed a way to easily differentiate a commercial enterprise from a charitable organization, a university from a governmental department.
These crucial designations eventually came to be known as top-level domains, or TLDs. Today, internet users can choose from a vast array of available TLD extensions, but for a long time, the digital landscape was defined by only a handful of original options. These foundational TLDs remain remarkably popular and culturally embedded in daily web usage. Most internet users instinctively understand that when they navigate to a web address ending in .com, they are visiting a commercial site, whereas a .org address typically signifies a non-profit organization dedicated to a cause rather than corporate profit.
Open Source Is a Network
Just as the internet relies on interconnected networks to function, open source as a movement can be many things, yet it always functions as a network. Open source projects can take on commercial models, operate as non-profits, serve academic institutions, or drive cultural initiatives. No matter what specific form an open source project ultimately takes, it always operates as a network.
Sometimes that network consists of physical computers and servers communicating across vast distances, but most importantly, it is fundamentally a network of people. Whether open source contributors and enthusiasts are gathering together in person at a major technology conference, catching up at a local pub, or collaborating in real-time through an online chat room, open source is, at its core, a community of human beings working collaboratively.
For the past twelve years, the website Opensource.com has been supported and sustained by a commercial entity. Yet the people who truly constitute the beating heart of the Opensource.com community—the writers, editors, contributors, and readers who make up the ecosystem—are not commercial entities. They are simply people, united by a shared passion for open collaboration.
After more than a decade of publication under its current operational model, Opensource.com is preparing to resolve that fundamental mismatch. A major shift is on the horizon, and the community is actively building the next iteration of the platform. In just one month, Opensource.com is going to resolve that long-standing dynamic and reveal what comes next. Stay tuned as the story unfolds.
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