The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is a non-profit organization that supports the development of open-source software projects. Founded in 1999, it provides a collaborative environment for developers to create and maintain software that is freely available to the public. The foundation is known for its commitment to community-driven development and its emphasis on transparency and meritocracy. One of the most notable projects under the ASF is the Apache HTTP Server, which is widely used for serving web content. The foundation hosts numerous other projects, including Apache Hadoop for big data processing and Apache Spark for data analytics, making it a key player in the open-source software ecosystem.