15 Open-Source Projects That Changed the World

Software development is a field of ideas and experiments. One idea leads to an experiment that spawns another idea and the cycle of innovation moves forward.

Open-source projects are the fuel for this innovation. 

A good open-source project impacts the lives of many developers and creates a fertile environment for collaboration. Many of the greatest breakthroughs in software development have come from open-source projects.

In this post, we will look at 15 high-impact open-source projects that have changed the lives of many developers. 

To come up with the list, we tried to look at the overall impact these projects have created on the industry and related technologies. Also, we’ve focused on projects that have led to a big change in the day-to-day lives of many software developers across the world.

1 - Linux

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, there’s no way you haven’t heard about Linux.

Linux is an open-source operating system created by Linus Torvalds. Like many open-source projects, it was originally started as a hobby project.

And then, it took over the world.

Linux runs on all sorts of computer systems such as PCs, mobiles and servers. It also runs on more unexpected places such as a washing machine, cars and robots. Even the Large Hadron Collider uses Linux.

However, the biggest impact of Linux is how it has democratized the world of software development by providing a free and open-source operating system.

2 - Apache HTTP Server

Apache HTTP Server is a free and open-source web server that powers a large percentage of websites on the internet.

Ever since its release in 1995, the Apache HTTP server has been a tireless workhorse. It’s versatile enough in terms of security and agility to be adopted by enterprises and startups alike.

Over the years, Apache HTTP Server has inspired so many web servers such as Nginx, Lighttpd, Caddy and so on.

3 - Git

Git hardly needs any introduction.

If you’ve worked as a developer in any capacity, there is a 100% chance you’ve used Git or at least, heard about it.

Git is a free and open-source version control system for software development. And you may be surprised to know that it was also created by Linus Torvalds along with his team.

But why?

Yes, you guessed it right. Linus did it to manage the source code of the Linux kernel project. That’s why people say that the best open-source projects come from your own requirements.

Git has been super-transformative for the way the software industry operates. It provided a standard way of tracking, comparing and applying version control on the source code, leading to the birth of revolutionary products such as GitHub and Bitbucket.

4 - Node.js

JavaScript was always the preferred language for browser-based development. But it would have stayed just a browser language had it not been for Node.js

Node.js is an open-source cross-platform JavaScript runtime environment for server-side programming. 

In other words, Node.js brought JavaScript to backend development.

With its release in 2009, Node.js quickly became a popular choice for building scalable and high-performance web applications. It paved the way for using the same language for both client-side and server-side programming.

5 - Docker

It’s no secret that developers love to build applications and test them on their machines. 

But no one loves the pressure of deploying the same application to production. 

There’s always one pesky environment issue or version mismatch on the production server that brings the entire application down.

And developers can only say - “It worked fine on my machine.”

To which, they get the answer - “Yes, but we can’t ship your machine to production.”

Docker made it possible. 

As an open-source platform, Docker allows developers to package and deploy applications in a consistent and portable way. 

The application-specific packages and all the environmental dependencies are packaged in a Docker container image. This image can then be deployed wherever needed.