Apache calls it an anniversary instead of a birthday, but either way… Apache just turned 15 years old!
Missing from their write-up on the history (and importance) of the world’s most popular web server (and runaway open-source success story) is how the software got its name. They only hint at the pun:
February 23, 1994: Individual patch authors around the world are invited to join the "new-httpd" mailing list to discuss enhancements and future releases of NCSA httpd. The Apache name was chosen for this new effort within the first few days of discussion…
Authors were invited to submit various patches to the original product, thus making it “a patchy server.” Ha! Computer humor…
I don’t think I was using Apache as early as 1995 (although I was at Ole Miss working on my first web site at the time), but I was definitely editing Apache configuration files by hand in '97 or '98. And still do on a fairly regular basis…
Tags: anniversary, apache, birthday, httpd, ncsa, open-source