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The sharing of technical information predates the Internet and the personal computer considerably. For instance, in the early years of automobile development a group of capital [[monopoly|monopolists]] owned the rights to a [[2 cycle|2-cycle]] gasoline-engine patent originally filed by [[George B. Selden]].<ref name="carculture">{{cite book |first=James J. |last=Flink |title=The Car Culture |publisher=MIT Press |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-262-56015-3 }}</ref> By controlling this patent, they were able to monopolize the industry and force car manufacturers to adhere to their demands, or risk a lawsuit.
In 1911, independent automaker [[Henry Ford]] won a challenge to [[George B. Selden#The Selden patent|the Selden patent]]. The result was that the Selden patent became virtually worthless and a new association (which would eventually become the [[Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association]]) was formed.<ref name="carculture" /> The new association instituted a cross-licensing agreement among all US automotive manufacturers: although each company would develop technology and file patents, these patents were shared openly and without the exchange of money among all the manufacturers.<ref name="carculture" /> By the time the US entered [[World War II]], 92 Ford patents and 515 patents from other companies were being shared among these manufacturers, without any exchange of money (or lawsuits).<ref name="carculture" />
Early instances of the free sharing of source code include [[IBM]]'s source releases of its [[operating system]]s and other programs in the 1950s and 1960s, and the [[SHARE (computing)|SHARE]] user group that formed to facilitate the exchange of software.<ref name="autogenerated172">{{cite book|title=IBM and the U.S. Data Processing Industry: An Economic History|last1=Fisher|first1=Franklin M.|publisher=Praeger|year=1983|isbn=978-0-03-063059-0|pages=172–9|first2=James W.|last2=McKie|first3=Richard B.|last3=Mancke}} IBM unbundled (began charging for) software 23 June 1969.</ref><ref name="autogenerated2">[http://www.cozx.com/~dpitts/ibm7090.html Dave Pitts' IBM 7090 support] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150827134534/http://www.cozx.com/~dpitts/ibm7090.html |date=27 August 2015 }}{{spaced ndash}}An example of distributed source: Page contains a link to [[IBM 7090/94 IBSYS]] source, including [[COBOL]] and [[FORTRAN]] compilers.</ref> Beginning in the 1960s, [[ARPANET]] researchers used an open "[[Request for Comments]]" (RFC) process to encourage feedback in early telecommunication network protocols. This led to the birth of the early Internet in 1969.
===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 journal| publisher = Stanford University| last = O'Mahony| first = Siobhan Clare| title = The emergence of a new commercial actor: Community managed software projects| ___location = Stanford, CA| date = 2002|pages=34–42}}</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/>
The term gained further visibility through an event organized in April 1998 by technology publisher [[Tim O'Reilly]]. Originally titled the "Freeware Summit" and later known as the "Open Source Summit",<ref name=opensourcesummit>{{cite web|url=http://linuxgazette.net/issue28/rossum.html |title=Open Source Summit |website=Linux Gazette |date=10 April 1998 |access-date=2015-02-07 |first=Guido |last=van Rossum |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131229053622/http://linuxgazette.net/issue28/rossum.html |archive-date=29 December 2013}}</ref> the event was attended by the leaders of many of the most important free and open-source projects, including Linus Torvalds, [[Larry Wall]], [[Brian Behlendorf]], [[Eric Allman]], [[Guido van Rossum]], [[Michael Tiemann]], [[Paul Vixie]], [[Jamie Zawinski]], and Eric Raymond. At that meeting, alternatives to the term "free software" were discussed. Tiemann argued for "sourceware" as a new term, while Raymond argued for "open source." The assembled developers took a vote, and the winner was announced at a press conference the same evening.<ref name=opensourcesummit />
==Economics==
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