Google takes AMP to the OpenJS Foundation
AMP, Google's somewhat controversial project for speeding up the mobile web, has always been open-source, but it also always felt like a Google project first. Today, however, Google announced that the AMP framework will join the OpenJS Foundation, the Linux Foundation-based group that launched last year after the merger of the Node.js and JS foundations. The OpenJS Foundation is currently the home of projects like jQuery, Node.js and webpack, and AMP will join the Foundation's incubation program.
Large companies like Google tend to donate open-source projects to foundations once they become stable - and that's definitely the case with the four-year-old AMP project, which developers have now used to create billions of pages on more than 30 million domains, according to Google. Late last year, Google introduced a Technical Steering Committee to help oversee the development of AMP and it was this committee that also agreed to bring the project to the OpenJS Foundation.
"Now in our fourth year, AMP is excited for the next step on our journey," said Malte Ubl, Member of the AMP Project Technical Steering Committee, in today's announcement. "We've been considering the best home for AMP for some time. We decided on the OpenJS Foundation because we feel it's the best place for us to help us to cater to our diverse group of constituencies. This step builds on previous moves we've made toward open governance and helps us focus on transparency and openness."
Google also notes that the OpenJS Foundation's goal of promoting JavaScript and related technologies is a good fit for AMP's mission of providing "a user-first format for web content." The company also notes that the Foundation allows projects to maintain their identities and technical focus and stresses that AMP's governance model was already influenced by the JS Foundation and Node.js Foundation.
Google is currently a top-level platinum member of the OpenJS Foundation and will continue to support the project and employ a number of engineers that will work on AMP full-time.