Coar has been active in open software projects, and lectures internationally about open development methodologies and distributed collaboration.

[1][2][3][4][5] He is co-author with David R. Robinson of RFC 3875, the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) specification.

[6][7] Coar is a founder of The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) and was a Director on its board from its incorporation in 1999 through June 2007.

[9] Coar was responsible for the ApacheCon shows, held in North America and Europe since 2000.

[10] Coar is the author of the books Apache Server for Dummies, Apache Server Unleashed, and Apache Cookbook, and has written articles for a number of publications including Linux Magazine, ACM Queue, Linux Today, PHPBuilder, EnterpriseIT Planet, and Apache Today.