Open source: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:37, 18 August 2025

Latest revision as of 07:16, 24 August 2025

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===Open source as a term===

Open source as a term emerged in the late 1990s by a group of people in the free software movement who were critical of the political agenda and moral philosophy implied in the term "free software" and sought to reframe the discourse to reflect a more commercially minded position.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=O'Mahony |first=Siobhan Clare |title=The emergence of a new commercial actor: Community managed software projects |date=2002 |degree=PhD |publisher=Stanford University |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/305527434 |url-access=subscription |pages=34–42 |___location=Stanford, CA |id={{ProQuest|305527434}} }}</ref> In addition, the ambiguity of the term "free software" was seen as discouraging business adoption.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/open-source.html |title=Goodbye, "free software"; hello, "open source" |quote=The problem with it is twofold. First, ... the term "free" is very ambiguous ... Second, the term makes a lot of corporate types nervous.|first=Eric S.|last=Raymond|author-link=Eric S. Raymond }}</ref><ref name="infoworld1983">{{cite web|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yy8EAAAAMBAJ&q=us%20government%20public%20domain%20software&pg=PA31 |website=[[InfoWorld]] |date=23 June 1983|title=Free software – Free software is a junkyard of software spare parts |quote=''"In contrast to commercial software is a large and growing body of free software that exists in the public ___domain. Public-___domain software is written by microcomputer hobbyists (also known as "hackers") many of whom are professional programmers in their work life. [...] Since everybody has access to source code, many routines have not only been used but dramatically improved by other programmers."'' |first=Tom |last=Shea |access-date= 10 February 2016}}</ref> However, the ambiguity of the word "free" exists primarily in English as it can refer to cost. The group included [[Christine Peterson]], Todd Anderson, [[Larry Augustin]], [[Jon Hall (programmer)|Jon Hall]], [[Sam Ockman]], [[Michael Tiemann]] and [[Eric S. Raymond]]. Peterson suggested "open source" at a meeting<ref name=osihistory>{{cite web|url=http://www.opensource.org/history |title=History of the OSI |date=19 September 2006 |first=Michael |last=Tiemann |author-link=Michael Tiemann |publisher=[[Open Source Initiative]] |access-date=23 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021001164015/http://www.opensource.org/docs/history.php |archive-date=1 October 2002 }}</ref> held at [[Palo Alto, California]], in reaction to [[Netscape Communications Corporation|Netscape]]'s announcement in January 1998 of a source code release for [[Netscape Navigator|Navigator]].<ref name="Conflict">{{cite web |last1=Lunduke |first1=Bryan |author1-link=Bryan Lunduke |title=WATCH: Eric Raymond & Lunduke Argue About the Origin of "Open Source" |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuKSD_himSE |website=youtube.com |publisher=[[The Lunduke Journal]] |language=en |format=video |date=Feb 18, 2025}}</ref> [[Linus Torvalds]] gave his support the following day, and Phil Hughes backed the term in ''[[Linux Journal]]''. Richard Stallman, the founder of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) in 1985, quickly decided against endorsing the term.<ref name=osihistory/><ref name="rmsdissent">{{cite web|url=https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html |title=Why Open Source misses the point of Free Software |publisher=Free Software Foundation |date=18 May 2012 |first = Richard |last = Stallman}}</ref> The FSF's goal was to promote the development and use of free software, which they defined as software that grants users the freedom to run, study, share, and modify the code. This concept is similar to open source but places a greater emphasis on the ethical and political aspects of software freedom. Netscape released its source code under the Netscape Public License and later under the [[Mozilla Public License]].<ref name="Muffatto000">{{cite book | title = Open Source: A Multidisciplinary Approach | first = Moreno | last = Muffatto | publisher = Imperial College Press | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-1-86094-665-3 }}</ref>

Raymond was especially active in the effort to popularize the new term. He made the first public call to the free software community to adopt it in February 1998.<ref name="raymondCall">{{cite web|url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/open-source.html |title=Goodbye, "free software"; hello, "open source" |publisher=Catb.org |access-date=2012-10-25}}</ref> Shortly after, he founded The Open Source Initiative in collaboration with [[Bruce Perens]].<ref name=osihistory/>

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Open collaboration is the principle underlying [[peer production]], [[mass collaboration]], and [[wikinomics]].<ref name="LevinePrietula2013" /> It was observed initially in open-source software, but can also be found in many other instances, such as in [[Internet forum]]s,<ref name="LakhaniVonHippel2003" /> [[mailing list]]s,<ref name="Jarvenpaa, S. L. 2008"/> Internet communities,<ref name="Faraj, S. 2011"/> and many instances of [[open content]], such as [[Creative Commons license|Creative Commons]]. It also explains some instances of [[crowdsourcing]], [[collaborative consumption]], and [[open innovation]].<ref name="LevinePrietula2013" />

Riehle et al. define open collaboration as collaboration based on three principles of [[egalitarianism]], [[meritocracy]], and [[self-organization]].<ref name="RiehleEllenberger2009">{{Cite journal |last1=Riehle| first1=D. |last2=Ellenberger |first2=J. |last3=Menahem| first3=T. |last4=Mikhailovski |first4=B. |last5=Natchetoi| first5=Y. |last6=Naveh |first6=B. |last7=Odenwald |first7=T. |date=March 2009 |title=Open Collaboration within Corporations Using Software Forges |journal=IEEE Software |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=52–58 |doi=10.1109/MS.2009.44 | bibcode=2009ISoft..26b..52R |issn=0740-7459 |s2cid=6038418 |url=http://dirkriehle.com/uploads/2009/02/open-collaboration-within-corporations-using-software-forges.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161008003536/http://dirkriehle.com/uploads/2009/02/open-collaboration-within-corporations-using-software-forges.pdf |archive-date=8 October 2016 |access-date=22 November 2018}}</ref> Levine and Prietula define open collaboration as "any system of innovation or production that relies on goal-oriented yet loosely coordinated participants who interact to create a product (or service) of economic value, which they make available to contributors and noncontributors alike."<ref name="LevinePrietula2013" /> This definition captures multiple instances, all joined by similar principles. For example, all of the elements – goods of economic value, open access to contribute and consume, interaction and exchange, purposeful yet loosely coordinated work – are present in an open-source software project, in Wikipedia, or in a user forum or community. They can also be present in a commercial website that is based on [[user-generated content]]. In all of these instances of open collaboration, anyone can contribute and anyone can freely partake in the fruits of sharing, which are produced by interacting participants who are loosely coordinated.

An annual conference dedicated to the research and practice of open collaboration is the International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration (OpenSym, formerly WikiSym).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.opensym.org/about-us/|title=About|work=The International Symposium on Open Collaboration|date=15 June 2010}}</ref> As per its website, the group defines open collaboration as "collaboration that is egalitarian (everyone can join, no principled or artificial barriers to participation exist), meritocratic (decisions and status are merit-based rather than imposed) and self-organizing (processes adapt to people rather than people adapt to pre-defined processes)."<ref name="Opensym">{{cite web |title=Definition of Open Collaboration |work=The Joint International Symposium on Open Collaboration |first=Dirk |last=Riehle |quote=Open collaboration is collaboration that is egalitarian (everyone can join, no principled or artificial barriers to participation exist), meritocratic (decisions and status are merit-based rather than imposed) and self-organizing (processes adapt to people rather than people adapt to pre-defined processes). |access-date=2013-03-26 |url=http://www.wikisym.org/2012/09/28/definition-of-open-collaboration/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130312135554/http://www.wikisym.org/2012/09/28/definition-of-open-collaboration/ |archive-date=12 March 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

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Open-source ethics is split into two strands:

* Open-source ethics as an ethical school – Charles Ess and David Berry are researching whether ethics can learn anything from an open-source approach. Ess famously even defined the [[Association of Internet Researchers|AoIR]] Research Guidelines as an example of open-source ethics.<ref>[http://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/berry2.pdf Berry (2004) Internet Ethics: Privacy, Ethics and Alienation{{spaced ndash}}An Open Source Approach.] (PDF file)</ref>

* Open-source ethics as a professional body of rules – This is based principally on the computer ethics school, studying the questions of ethics and professionalism in the computer industry in general and software development in particular.<ref>{{cite journal |author=El-Emam, K |title=Ethics and Open Source |journal=Empirical Software Engineering |volume=6 |issue=4 |year=2001 |pages=291–292 |doi=10.1023/A:1011962213685 |url=http://springerlink.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.asp?wasp=hf0bld3qlk0unn8f8x2m&referrer=parent&backto=issue,2,12;journal,14,33;linkingpublicationresults,1:100262,1#ContactOfAuthor1}}</ref>

===Religion===