Gabber is an offshoot of Jabber, an open-source instant messaging system -- specifically designed for Linux-based operating systems that use the GNOME desktop environment. Only about 5,000 people are currently using Gabber, but that's not what makes Missig's work interesting. Instead, it's the place he's chosen for his programming.

Gabber is just one of roughly 16,000 software projects hosted by SourceForge. The only thing the software programs in development at SourceForge have in common is that they are all free, or open-source: The underlying code to the programs is made freely available to the general public.

Since launching in January 2000, SourceForge, which is sponsored by open-source hardware and services provider VA Linux, has attracted 125,000 software developers, say company representatives. The site added more than 17,000 software developers just between Jan. 18 and Feb. 21 and has been averaging monthly growth of more than 30 percent. SourceForge, says John T. Hall, vice president for strategic planning at VA Linux, is close to eclipsing IBM as the world's largest community of software programmers.

But size isn't the only thing that matters about SourceForge. To some observers, the community of developers that has gathered together at SourceForge represents nothing less than the latest stage of the evolution of free software. It's a focal point for all the world-wide energy flowing out of hackers and into code that everyone can share. Eric Raymond, co-founder of the Open Source Initiative, a prominent advocate for open-source software and a member of the VA Linux board of directors, says the site is as significant to the open-source movement as the creation of Linux -- which focused the efforts of thousands of volunteer computer coders worldwide.

"(Linux) created a kind of social synergy," Raymond says. "SourceForge is having the same effect."

Even so, Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation, believes that SourceForge's emphasis on the pragmatic open-source approach to software development distracts programmers from the altruistic principles at the heart of free software. But perhaps of even more importance is the question of how long SourceForge can stay afloat. Brian Behlendorf, a co-founder of the open-source Apache Web server software effort, and the chief technical officer of Collab.net, wonders what happens if VA Linux runs out of money. On Feb. 20, after posting a quarterly loss of $74.1 million, VA Linux announced it was slashing 25 percent of its 556-employee work force.

But the company recently invested $500,000 in new hardware for the site and has dozens of employees focused on SourceForge. And it spared SourceForge from the cuts -- instead, executives called the Web site a priority and promised to beef up the site with additional hardware and staffing. Though VA Linux executives like to describe SourceForge as their "gift" to the free software/open-source world, they are also hoping that it will be a desperately needed key to commercializing open-source software development.

The Free Software Project
Read Andrew Leonard's book-in-progress on Linux and open source -- and post your comments.