Open Source Initiative Stands Up

Thanks to this Slashdot article I learned of this blog post by Michael Tiemann, president of the Open Source Initiative. Essentially he writes:

Enough is enough. Open Source has grown up. Now it is time for us to stand up. I believe that when we do, the vendors who ignore our norms will suddenly recognize that they really do need to make a choice: to label their software correctly and honestly, or to license it with an OSI-approved license that matches their open source label.

This is great. I wrote Real Open Source in April and I am glad OSI is joining this battle. It will be interesting to see how they proceed. Perhaps they can start by "naming names," i.e., listing companies or projects claiming to be "open source" but not using an Open Source license. Incidentally, reading the Slashdot post is worthwhile, if only to see Bruce Perens respond to arguments opposing OSI's position.

Comments

PaulM said…
I wish Mike T. and the OSI all the best, but I fear that this ship has sailed.

When someone calls a piece of software, "open source" they are conveying that the source code has been published or is otherwise available. It also implies free-as-in-beer.

It also used to imply GPL. But at last count there are 60-some official Open Source licenses. It's silly to expect the consumer to understand or even care whether or not the license that Vendor X created for their 'open source' product has OSI's stamp of approval.
10:07 AM
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