Apache Software Foundation

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What Does Apache Software Foundation Mean?

The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is a non-profit organization that helps handle intellectual property (IP) rights for Apache software products. The ASF strives to make these types of resources available to the public.

The ASF is one of numerous groups that promote the use of open source software by managing volunteer resources and advocating for an open source model that, in many ways, competes with the licensed software market.

Techopedia Explains Apache Software Foundation

Established in 1999, the Apache Software Foundation is formerly known as the Apache group. Experts describe the group as a merit-based, collaborative group where individuals become members by contributing to open source projects. The group provides legal protection to volunteers that work on related software projects.

The ASF also hosts conventions and other events to promote close working models for the community of developers representing the greater ASF team.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.