Open Source Initiative
Formation | February 8, 1998 |
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Type | Standards organization[1] |
Location |
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Area served | Worldwide |
Executive Director | Stefano Maffulli (September 2021 – present) |
Budget | US$209,500 (2019)[3] |
Revenue | US$209,500 (2019)[4] |
Website | opensource |
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is the steward of the
Founded in 1998, the Open Source Initiative coined the term open source in opposition to the free software movement. While free software is the same thing as open-source software, OSI preferred to make a pragmatic and business-friendly case for open-source software.
For most of its existence, the OSI's activities have been focused on the definition and certifying software licenses as compliant with it. OSI originally had a closed organizational model, but began to switch towards a membership organization in the 2010s to raise more money and expand its activities.
History
In 1998,
In January 2020, Perens left OSI over controversy regarding a new license (the Cryptographic Autonomy License), which had been proposed for the OSI's approval.[11] Raymond was banned from the OSI mailing list in March 2020.[12]
In 2022, OSI began work on an Open Source AI Definition, inviting dozens of researchers and corporate representatives to make a draft. Even companies with accessible code often do not release the data set used to train the model and impose usage restrictions on what can be done with the trained model. Maffulli said a new definition was necessary because artificial intelligence "is different from regular software and forces all stakeholders to review how the Open Source principles apply to this space".[13][14]
Governance
The OSI is a
In 2008, the OSI attempted to reform its governance, inviting fifty people onto a private mailing list, but this attempt led to no publicly available result.[1] In 2012, the organization again tried to transition towards a membership-based structure, creating affiliate and individual memberships without any formal say over the organization. A plan for corporate membership was also announced, but has not materialized as of 2022[update]. The motivation for adopting a membership-based structure is to obtain greater financial resources, enabling full-time positions to increase the organization's effectiveness.[1][15]
In March 2021, the OSI organization held a vote for executive director among its members, but the results were annulled because the election was hacked.[6] The election was re-run and Stefano Maffulli appointed its first executive director in September 2021.[16]
Open Source Definition
License approval process
The OSI approves certain licenses as compatible with the definition, and maintains a list of compliant licenses. New licenses have to submit a formal proposal explaining the rationale for the license, comparison with existing approved licenses, and any legal analysis. The proposal is discussed on the OSI mailing list for at least 30 days before being brought to a vote and approved or rejected by the OSI board. Although the OSI has made an effort to have a transparent process, the approval process has been a source of controversy.[23]
Seven approved licenses are particularly recommended by the OSI as "popular, widely used, or having strong communities":[23]
- Apache License 2.0
- BSD 3-Clause and BSD 2-Clause Licenses
- All versions of the GPL
- All versions of the LGPL
- MIT License
- Mozilla Public License 2.0
- Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL)
- Eclipse Public License version 2.0
History
As a campaign of sorts, "open source" was launched in 1998 by Christine Peterson, Jon "maddog" Hall, Larry Augustin, Eric S. Raymond, Bruce Perens, and others.[24][25]
The group adopted the
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".[28] Subsequently, the OSI announced an Individual Membership program[29] and listed a number of Corporate Sponsors.[30]
On November 8, 2013, OSI appointed Patrick Masson as its general manager.[31] From August 2020 to September 2021, Deb Nicholson was the interim general manager.[32] Under the direction of Deborah Nicholson, the interim manager, the voting and election was held with results and then halted and set for re-election due to vulnerabilities in the election process. "This week we found a vulnerability in our voting processes that was exploited and had an impact on the outcome of the recent Board Election."[33] No election results or further updates are posted as of June 2021[update].[citation needed]
In January 2020, founder Bruce Perens left OSI over controversy regarding a new license (the Cryptographic Autonomy License), which had been proposed for the OSI's approval.[34] Later, in August 2020, Perens elaborated on his concerns: "We created a tower of babel of licenses. We did not design-in license compliance, and we have a tremendous noncompliance problem that isn't getting better. We can't afford to sue our copyright infringers."[35]
Eric S. Raymond, another co-founder of the OSI, was later banned from the OSI mailing list in March 2020.[36]
In November 2020 the board of directors announced a search for an executive director[37] which was concluded in September 2021 with the appointment of Stefano Maffulli. At the same time, the role of president of the board was abandoned in favor of chair of the board.
Relationship with the free software movement
Both the modern
As early as 1999, OSI co-founder Perens objected to the "schism" that was developing between supporters of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and the OSI because of their disparate approaches. Perens had hoped the OSI would merely serve as an "introduction" to FSF principles for "non-hackers."[39] Richard Stallman of FSF 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.[40] 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."[40]
On March 23, 2021, in response to Richard Stallman's reappointment to the Board of the Free Software Foundation, the OSI released a statement calling upon the FSF to "hold Stallman responsible for past behavior, remove him from the organization's leadership and work to address the harm he caused to all those he has excluded: those he considers less worthy, and those he has hurt with his words and actions." The OSI also stated that they would not participate in any events that include Stallman and "cannot collaborate with the Free Software Foundation until Stallman is removed from the organization's leadership."[41]
Board members
As of February 2024[update], the Open Source Initiative Board of Directors is:[42]
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Past board members include:[43]
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See also
- Digital rights
- Comparison of open-source and closed-source software
- Business models for open-source software
- Commons-based peer production – an 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-software movement – the evolution and evidence of the open-source ideology
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-886234-5.
- ^ "Charity Navigator - Unrated Profile for Open Source Initiative". Archived from the original on 2019-05-12.
- ^ "Charity Navigator - Unrated Profile for Open Source Initiative". Archived from the original on 2019-05-12.
- ^ "Charity Navigator - Unrated Profile for Open Source Initiative". Archived from the original on 2019-05-12.
- ^ a b "The Ins and Outs of Open Source" Kalina, Ira; Czyzycki, Alice. Consulting to Management; Washington Vol. 16, Iss. 3, (Sep 2005): 41-46.
- ^ a b Vaughan-Nichols, Steven (March 24, 2021). "Open Source Initiative election hacked". ZDNET. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
- ^ ISSN 1396-0466.
- ^ Hahn, Erin N. "An Overview of Open-Source Software Licenses and the Value of Open-Source Software to Public Health Initiatives" (PDF). Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest: 692.
- ISBN 978-0-937275-12-2.
- ISBN 978-0-19-260687-7.
- ^ "OSI co-founder leaves initiative over new license".
- ^ "Co-founder of OSI Banned from Mailing Lists".
- ^ Claburn, Thomas (16 May 2024). "Open Source Initiative tries to define Open Source AI". www.theregister.com. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
- ^ Gent, Ed (March 25, 2024). "The tech industry can't agree on what open-source AI means. That's a problem". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
- ^ Vaughan-Nichols, Steven (18 July 2012). "New life for the Open Source Initiative". ZDNET. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
- ^ Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J. "The Open Source Initiative names Stefano Maffulli as its first Executive Director". ZDNet. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
- ISBN 978-1-83763-385-2.
- ISBN 978-3-030-79362-3.
- ISBN 978-1-107-13406-5.
- ISBN 978-1591409991.
- ISBN 978-0-470-25581-0.
- ISBN 978-0-596-55395-1.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-886234-5.
- ^ "History of the OSI".
- ^ "A Look Back at 10 Years of OSI". Archived from the original on 2018-04-29.
- ^ http://www.opensource.org/pressreleases/certified-open-source.php Announcement of losing 'open source' trademark
- ^ "OSI Charter Member Discuss List". Archived from the original on 2013-04-21. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
- ^ "Become an OSI Affiliate". 22 May 2012.
- ^ "OSI Announces Individual Membership".
- ^ "OSI Corporate Sponsors". 23 July 2023.
- ^ "OSI Names New General Manager". LWN. 2013-10-23. Retrieved 2014-01-27.
- ^ "Deb Nicholson to Join Open Source Initiative as Interim General Manager". Software Freedom Conservancy. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
- ^ "OSI election update".
- ^ "OSI co-founder leaves initiative over new license".
- ^ Perens, Bruce (2020-08-24). "What comes after Open Source?". DebConf20. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
- ^ "Co-founder of OSI Banned from Mailing Lists".
- ^ "OSI Seeks to Hire Executive Director | Open Source Initiative". opensource.org. 19 November 2020. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
- ^ Tiemann, Michael (2006-09-19). "History of the OSI". Open Source Initiative. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
- ^ "It's Time to Talk About Free Software Again". 2014-11-19. Archived from the original on 2014-07-16. Retrieved 2014-11-19.
- ^ a b Stallman, Richard (2009-04-21). "Why 'Open Source' Misses the Point of Free Software". Free Software Foundation. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
- ^ "OSI Response to RMS's reappointment to the Board of the Free Software Foundation | Open Source Initiative". opensource.org. 23 March 2021. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
- ^ "Current composition of OSI board of directors". Open Source Initiative. 20 September 2022.
- ^ "OSI Emeritus Members | Open Source Initiative". Open Source Initiative. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
- ^ "2009 OSI Board Elections held in April". Archived from the original on 2022-04-07. Retrieved 2009-05-23.