Apache: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition

Who Wrote Apache, and Why?

Apache gets its name from the fact that it consists of some existing code plus some patches. The FAQ^[*] thinks that this is cute; others may think it's the sort of joke that gets programmers a bad name. A more responsible group thinks that Apache is an appropriate title because of the resourcefulness and adaptability of the American Indian tribe.

^[*] FAQ is netspeak for Frequently Asked Questions. Most sites/subjects have an FAQ file that tells you what the thing is, why it is, and where it is going. It is perfectly reasonable for the newcomer to ask for the FAQ to look up anything new to him or her, and indeed this is a sensible thing to do, since it reduces the number of questions asked. Apache's FAQ can be found at http://www.apache.org/docs/FAQ.html.

You have to understand that Apache is free to its users and is written by a team of volunteers who do not get paid for their work. Whether or not they decide to incorporate your or anyone else's ideas is entirely up to them. If you don't like this, feel free to collect a team and write your own web server.

The first web server was built by the British physicist Tim Berners-Lee at CERN, the European Centre for Nuclear Research at Geneva, Switzerland. The immediate ancestor of Apache was built by the U.S. government in the person of NCSA, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. This fine body is not to be confused with the National Computing Security Agency or the North Carolina Schools Association. ...