Open source was not invented by the OSI; they claim that, but you can easily find press releases going back to the 80s using the term.
But yes, on the popularity bend, you're correct -- the OSI basically was a giant PR campaign, started by Netscape to publicize their going-out-of-business sale as a good thing, actually. Most importantly, they specifically wanted to separate themselves from the FSF project's four freedoms, which they viewed as antithetical to business -- or rather, antithetical to any business who wanted to buy the charred remains of Netscape, like AOL. So they started with Debian's DFSG, and whittled it down until they had something they could sell.
In my opinion, people argue about terminology too much rather than the freedoms and the society we want to build, but that's just the internet, sometimes.
OSI being in charge of open source is like that Indian tribe that sold Manhattan to the white man for 28 dollars. They are always cited as being idiots but they were selling another tribe's land and were happy to get paid for it. Likewise people like Eric Raymond were only too happy to facilitate the businessification of free software for a little time in the limelight.
It's about one organization appropriating years of work like they've been the ones doing it all along and corporations being all too happy to accept it as such because it is good for business.
Free Software's only relationship to Open Source is that you can relicense OSS with the GPL just by kissing it (as long as you comply with any minor strangeness in the OSS license.)
Open Source tried to steal the energy of Free Software and steer it in a business friendly direction, but they didn't steal the term "Open Source" any more than Free Software stole the term "Free" from "free beer." These are just terms of art, certifications by two very established and influential certification bodies, and wittering on about whether somebody said they were "going to open the source and let people have a look at it" in 1973 is as irrelevant as the fact that plastic polymers are organic but not "Organic."
Are you all replying to something the parent said or something? I am not talking about something so simple as the term "open source". In my eyes open source is free software just in a shinier package. (We do seem to be largely in agreement you and I by the way)
AS far as I know, OSI didn’t appropriate anyone’s work. If you’re going to make an accusation like that, you should explain specifically what you mean. what work? Where do they claim ownership? Who had ownership before? How do you know?
open source didn't want to separate itself for the 4 freedoms, it wanted to separate itself from the toxic and cultish free software culture. to put it more charitably, free software is ideological and utopian whereas open source is pragmatic and realistic. either way these differences are cultural and produce the exact same type of software. in almost every single case an open source piece of software is also free software and a free piece of software is also open source.
Comments
Open source was not invented by the OSI; they claim that, but you can easily find press releases going back to the 80s using the term.
But yes, on the popularity bend, you're correct -- the OSI basically was a giant PR campaign, started by Netscape to publicize their going-out-of-business sale as a good thing, actually. Most importantly, they specifically wanted to separate themselves from the FSF project's four freedoms, which they viewed as antithetical to business -- or rather, antithetical to any business who wanted to buy the charred remains of Netscape, like AOL. So they started with Debian's DFSG, and whittled it down until they had something they could sell.
In my opinion, people argue about terminology too much rather than the freedoms and the society we want to build, but that's just the internet, sometimes.
OSI being in charge of open source is like that Indian tribe that sold Manhattan to the white man for 28 dollars. They are always cited as being idiots but they were selling another tribe's land and were happy to get paid for it. Likewise people like Eric Raymond were only too happy to facilitate the businessification of free software for a little time in the limelight.
No it's not, that doesn't make any sense. Defining a standard term is nothing like selling land.
Who said anything about defining a standard term?
It's about one organization appropriating years of work like they've been the ones doing it all along and corporations being all too happy to accept it as such because it is good for business.
Free Software's only relationship to Open Source is that you can relicense OSS with the GPL just by kissing it (as long as you comply with any minor strangeness in the OSS license.)
Open Source tried to steal the energy of Free Software and steer it in a business friendly direction, but they didn't steal the term "Open Source" any more than Free Software stole the term "Free" from "free beer." These are just terms of art, certifications by two very established and influential certification bodies, and wittering on about whether somebody said they were "going to open the source and let people have a look at it" in 1973 is as irrelevant as the fact that plastic polymers are organic but not "Organic."
Are you all replying to something the parent said or something? I am not talking about something so simple as the term "open source". In my eyes open source is free software just in a shinier package. (We do seem to be largely in agreement you and I by the way)
AS far as I know, OSI didn’t appropriate anyone’s work. If you’re going to make an accusation like that, you should explain specifically what you mean. what work? Where do they claim ownership? Who had ownership before? How do you know?
open source didn't want to separate itself for the 4 freedoms, it wanted to separate itself from the toxic and cultish free software culture. to put it more charitably, free software is ideological and utopian whereas open source is pragmatic and realistic. either way these differences are cultural and produce the exact same type of software. in almost every single case an open source piece of software is also free software and a free piece of software is also open source.