The Open Source Initiative is an organization dedicated to promoting
open-source software. The organization was founded in February
1998 by Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond, part of a group inspired by the
Netscape Communications Corporation publishing the source code for its
flagship Netscape Communicator product. Later, in August 1998, the organization
added a board of directors. Raymond was president from its founding
until February 2005, followed briefly by Russ Nelson and then Michael Tiemann. In
May 2012, the new board elected Simon Phipps as president and in May 2015
Allison Randal was elected as president when Phipps stepped down in preparation
for the 2016 end of his Board term. History
As a campaign of sorts, "open source" was launched in 1998 by Jon "maddog"
Hall, Larry Augustin, Eric S. Raymond, Bruce Perens, and others.
The group adopted the Open Source Definition for open-source software,
based on the Debian Free Software Guidelines. They also established the
Open Source Initiative as a steward organization for the movement. However,
they were unsuccessful in their attempt to secure a trademark for 'open source'
to control the use of the term. In 2008, in an apparent effort to reform
governance of the organization, the OSI Board invited 50 individuals to join a
"Charter Members" group; by 26 July 2008, 42 of the original invitees had
accepted the invitations. The full membership of the Charter Members has
never been publicly revealed, and the Charter Members group communicated by
way of a closed-subscription mailing list, "osi-discuss", with non-public
archives. Public information indicates that the group included Bradley M. Kuhn,
Karl Fogel, Jim Blandy, Chamindra da Silva, Lawrence Rosen, and David Ascher.
Then-OSI Board member Danese Cooper was the principal moderator of osi-discuss.
Kuhn later recollected that the Charter Membership was a "brouhaha" and took no
action. In 2009, the OSI was temporarily
suspended from operation as a California corporation, apparently in response to a
complaint concerning tax paperwork from earlier years. Its current status is
"Active". In 2012, under the leadership of OSI
director and then-president Simon Phipps, the OSI began transitioning
towards a membership-based governance structure. The OSI initiated an
Affiliate Membership program for "government-recognized non-profit
charitable and not-for-profit industry associations and academic institutions
anywhere in the world". Subsequently, the OSI announced an Individual
Membership program and listed a number of Corporate Sponsors.
On November 8, 2013, OSI appointed Patrick Masson as its General Manager.
Relationship with the free software movement
Both the modern free software movement and the Open Source Initiative were born
from a common history of Unix, Internet free software, and the hacker culture,
but their basic goals and philosophy differ. The Open Source Initiative chose
the term "open source," in founding member Michael Tiemann's words, to "dump
the moralizing and confrontational attitude that had been associated with
'free software'" and instead promote open source ideas on "pragmatic,
business-case grounds." As early as 1999, OSI co-founder Perens
objected to the "schism" that was developing between supporters of
Stallman's Free Software Foundation and the OSI because of their disparate
approaches. Stallman has sharply criticized the OSI for its pragmatic
focus and for ignoring what he considers the central "ethical imperative" and
emphasis on "freedom" underlying free software as he defines it. Nevertheless,
Stallman has described his free software movement and the Open Source Initiative
as separate camps within the same broad free-software community and acknowledged
that despite philosophical differences, proponents of open source and free
software "often work together on practical projects."
Board members The current Open Source Initiative board
is: Past board members include:
Open-source-related movements IGOS
Ma3bar – Arab Region See also
Free Software Foundation Digital freedom
Open Source Definition Comparison of open source and closed
source Business models for open-source software
- economic model used in context with open source software
Commons-based peer production – economic model for organizing projects without
leaders or financial compensation Open-source governance – use of
open-source principles to transform human social governance
Techno-progressivism – a stance of active support for the convergence of
technological change and social progress Open-source movement- The evolution and
evidence of the open-source ideology References
External links Official Website
List of OSI approved licenses