:39:01
1993, which was when the Apache
web server project really got started,
:39:07
was also the beginnings of the popular ISP explosion
:39:11
when the Internet first became a mass market commodity
:39:16
and the idea of web-based electronic commerce
:39:19
and, and mass communication became real.
:39:22
I think it was one of the first applications
that caused people to go
:39:26
"Well, if I install Linux."
:39:28
I get some tangible benefit from doing so, right?
:39:33
I mean, clearly there were a lot of
interesting applications on Linux
:39:36
at, at the time, this being maybe
two or three years ago,
:39:39
when the root thing really started to take off
:39:41
but there wasn't a driving, you know,
:39:44
you could almost say business case
:39:46
for someone to use Linux versus using NT
:39:49
until, I think, Apache and
a lot of the things that plugged into Apache
:39:53
enhanced Apache
:39:55
I mean, when you want to go out and build..
go out to build a server farm
:39:59
It was much more cost effective
:40:01
cost effective
:40:02
real dollar returns to build it on Linux and Apache
than was to build it on IIS and NT
:40:08
even if it meant that you have to
spend a little bit of money
:40:11
to train your staff to learn how to use that or
:40:13
to find people who were knowledgeable.
:40:15
But the good news was that
:40:16
that knowledge wasn't very expensive
:40:18
because there were all those college students out there
:40:20
who'd been using Linux for a long time
and were very familiar with it.
:40:24
If you look at the trend curves in web servers
:40:28
Apache has steadily been gaining
a market share ever since
:40:33
it's up to something like 66% now
:40:36
It's steadily clobbered
all of the closed source competition
:40:39
And that's because it's more reliable
it's more flexible, it's more extensible
:40:45
It does what webmasters actually need
:40:49
and the combination of Apache and Linux
:40:52
found its way into a great many commercial shops.
:40:56
Essentially, Apache became the application
that motivated Internet service providers