Recently I noticed that more and more developers and companies are getting involved in Open Source and Open Source Projects. There are Web-Frameworks, Web-apps, even New Operating Systems being written Openly. This is not only good for the companies, people directly related with the projects but also common people and students who want to learn and see how real projects are developed.
I see two very significant projects today which have the potential to change our way of interaction with web:
1. OpenStack: (From Wikipedia)OpenStack is an IaaS cloud computing project by Rackspace Cloud and NASA. Currently more than 150 companies have joined the project among which are Citrix Systems, Dell, AMD, Intel, Canonical, SUSE Linux, HP, and Cisco. It is free open source software released under the terms of the Apache License.
Why it is important?
Because it can give us a platform that we can trust and own. We will not be locked in with a vendor and can port our data anywhere. These reasons may look small but these are features we need to have control on our data. This is something that happened to Email in late 90s when we were not forced to any vendor.
2. Mozilla's B2G(Boot to Gecko): B2G is aimed at promoting the open Web on mobile (and everywhere else). By using Web technologies on software that never ran on them before (e.g. the phone dial-er), technologies like HTML, JavaScript, and CSS are slated to move forward.
Why it can affect?
The reason is simple: It is web-based and developers will not need to develop their Apps for one-more Stack. They have already announced that any web-app can take advantage of Mobile's features like messaging, Bluetooth and call. It is very impressive.
These are the projects that I think are biggest, most innovative and that can really bring change to the Open-Web. But there are other projects also that are supporting open source and would be beneficial for all of us. Lets wait and see :)