In this issue

Enough of the comedy ears gags. Still, bear in mind that there's now less than one month to get your tickets sorted for ApacheCon 2000 - the conference dedicated to the world's most popular non-mickey mouse web server. From March 8-10, Orlando, Florida plays host to the second official Apache conference. You'd be goofy to miss out.

This issue marks the fourth anniversary of Apache Week. Issue one was published on 9th February 1996, although it was only available on the Web until we started an email subscription option with issue 6.

When issue one was published, Apache version 1.0.0 had been out for just over a month. The current stable version was 1.0.2. The first Netcraft Server Survey we reported on, in issue 5 (March 1996) showed that Apache was almost the most popular server: it had 27% compared to NCSA's httpd with 28%. Apache became the most widely used server in the April 1996 survey, reported in issue 9. By happy coincidence, this issue also celebrated the first anniversary of the creation of Apache. In July 1996 Apache 1.1 was released (issue 23)

By January 1997 we we delivering Apache Week to over 3000 address, plus visitors to the Apache Week web site. We covered the long Apache 1.2 beta cycle, which had started on 1st December 1996 with 1.2b1 and continued until Apache 1.2 was released in June 1997 (issue 68). The 1.3 beta cycle started in October 1997 (issue 87) and continued until Apache 1.3.0 was released in June 1998 (issue 118). Whilst 1.3.0 was highly stable on Unix systems, it was much less developed on Windows.

In August 1998 the Netcraft Server Survey showed for the first time that Apache was in use on more than half the world's internet servers, and Ralf Engelschall released the first version of the popular mod_ssl module. In October the first official Apache conference, ApacheCon 98, was held in San Fransisco and was a huge sucess drawing nearly 500 registrations (issue 134). The record was set for the most Apache developers in the same place at the same time: 14. here is the proof [jpg,53k].

Towards the end of 1998, Apache was recognised by Microsoft as a real and credible threat to their business in their leaked memos (issue 137).

In July 1999 (issue 165) the Apache Software Foundation was formed with the aim to provide a legal framework for Apache and related open-source projects such as the Jakarta and XML projects.

Apache 1.3 remains the stable branch of the Apache software, now at 1.3.11 (released 21st January 2000). Although the new releases are designed mostly for bug fixes there have been a significant number of new features added. A number of additional new features have been written for 1.3 (including EAPI, IPv6, and performance patches) but these will unlikely be included in future 1.3 releases. All development effort is now being focussed on Apache 2.0

Today Apache-based servers are on use on over 60% of the world's Internet sites, including some of the more famous sites such as Amazon.com. Apache Week is now delivered to over 11,000 addresses, with a similar number of unique visitors each week to the web site. We've teamed up with the O'Reilly network, but the content, editorial control, and impartiality have not been changed. The revenues we get from the extra advert banners are being used to fund more in-depth articles, as well as a percentage direct to the Apache Software Foundation.

The Apache group have been working on Apache 2.0 for a long time, with initial plans reported in February 1998 (issue 102). In September 1999 (issue 173) we published a Apache 2.0 preview and stated that a beta version should be available in late 1999 or early 2000. It is now likely that a public beta release will be made available in March 2000, although it will still be some time before 2.0 is a full stable relase. Previous experience has shown it can take nearly a year after a release before a large proportion of sites upgrade.

Apache Week will continue to bring you the latest news about Apache and its development, as it happens. We will also monitor how Apache is being reported in the news, and where appropriate respond with corrections or clarifications.