According to the latest Netcraft Web
Server Survey, the Apache Web
Server serves Web pages for over half the domains on the Internet.
The January ’98 survey found that the Apache Web
server and its derivatives serve 50.34% of the 1,834,710 sites surveyed by
Netcraft.
The Apache Web Server initially got its start as a set of patches to the
original NCSA Web Server in 1995. It was one of the first servers to
implement the HTTP/1.1 protocol, and has since established itself as the
leading Web server, far surpassing both Microsoft and Netscape Web servers.
Key to the success of the Apache Web server is the team of developers known
as the Apache Group. The group is constantly working to improve, update,
and fix
the server.
Another key factor of Apache’s success is the fact that the
popular Web server is available for free on the Internet. Not only is the
latest precompiled version ready to download, but the source is available
for developers to enhance and compile.
Until now, Apache has been a Unix-only Web server. The latest version,
1.2.4, is available for most Unix platforms, but with the next release,
version 1.3, which is currently in beta testing, it will become available
for Microsoft Windows NT, opening up a new world for Apache lovers.
For more information on the Apache Web Server, or to download the latest
version, visit the Apache Web site. To see the latest Netcraft Web Server
Survey, visit the Netcraft Survey
page.
