15 Open-Source Projects That Changed the World

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.

Web Development

• Node.js: The cross-platform server-side Javascript runtime that brought JS to server-side development

• React: The library that became the foundation of many web development frameworks.

• Apache HTTP Server: The highly versatile web server loved by enterprises and startups alike. Served as inspiration for many other web servers over the years.

Data Management

• PostgreSQL: An open-source relational database management system that provided a high-quality alternative to costly systems

• Redis: The super versatile data store that can be used a cache, message broker and even general-purpose storage

• Elasticsearch: A scale solution to search, analyze and visualize large volumes of data

Developer Tools

• Git: Free and open-source version control tool that allows developer collaboration across the globe.

• VSCode: One of the most popular source code editors in the world

• Jupyter Notebook: The web application that lets developers share live code, equations, visualizations and narrative text.

Machine Learning & Big Data

• Tensorflow: The leading choice to leverage machine learning techniques

• Apache Spark: Standard tool for big data processing and analytics platforms

• Kafka: Standard platform for building real-time data pipelines and applications.

DevOps & Containerization

• Docker: The open source solution that allows developers to package and deploy applications in a consistent and portable way.

• Kubernetes: The heart of Cloud-Native architecture and a platform to manage multiple containers

• Linux: The OS that democratized the world of software development.