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- For other uses, see Open source (other meanings).
The previous open source article now exists at open-source software. This article is being rewritten to define the broader scope of open source and needs help with content that is more about the environment of open source and its history.
Open source, regarded by some as a philosophy and by others a pragmatic methodology, relates to practices in the production of products which promote access to their sources. Developers and producers used many different phrases or jargon words before the open source label became widely adopted, as the early Internet years provided a rapid convergence of very diverse production models. With the increase of interactive communities and their direct involvement with the Internet, open-source software yielded the most prominent society of open source. Even though Internet started in 1969 with open standards like the RFCs, it wasn't until 1998 that open source became a label to denote to software the same effort which began the Internet. The open source model allows different agendas and approaches used in production and contrasts with the more isolated models.
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History
Since the early 1960s most software was developed in an open source manner, where code was readily given out between users in order to better the experience for all users.
In 1985 an open source group called the Free Software Foundation began its campaign of using the word free to mean "free as in free speech," and not "free as in free beer," when referring to software. Since a great deal of free software already was (and still is) free of charge, such free software became associated with zero cost, which seemed anti-commercial.
In 1998 the term "open source" was decided upon in a strategy session held in reaction to Netscape's announcement of a source code release called Mozilla. The term was used to clarify a potential confusion caused by the ambiguity of the word "free" in the English language. This is often considered the birth of the open source movement and many consider the term to have been coined within the strategy session. None the less, many people claim that the birth of the Internet started the open source movement, while others consider open source to predate networks entirely, to the times when software was developed and passed about between academics freely. Later that year the Open Source Initiative formed and began using the term Open Source to describe software which followed its own tenents of openness, the Open Source Definition.
Also in 1998, critics attacked the term "open source" citing that it fosters an ambiguity of a different kind; that it confuses the mere availability of the source with the freedom to use, modify, and redistribute it. Some software developers then began to use the terms Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) or Free/Libre/Open-Source Software (FLOSS) to describe open-source software that is freely available and free of charge.
Influenced fields
Software is not the only field effected by open source, many fields of study and social and political views have been affected by the growth of the concept of open source. Advocates in one field will often support the expansion of open source in other fields, including Linus Torvalds who is quoted as saying, "the future is 'open source everything.'"
The open source movement has been the inspiration for increased transparency and liberty in other fields. For example the release of biotechnology research by CAMBIA, and the encyclopedia named Wikipedia. The open-source concept has also been applied to media other than computer programs, e.g., by Creative Commons. It also constitutes an example of user innovation (see for example the book Democratizing Innovation).
Open Cola is another idea inspired by the open source movement. Soft drink giants like Coke and Pepsi hold their formulas closely guarded secrets. Now volunteers have posted the recipe for a similar soda drink on the internet. The taste is said to be comparable to that of the standard beverages.
There is also an open-source beer recipe called Vores Øl. Following its release, an article in Wired magazine commented that "as open source spreads beyond software to online encyclopedias like Wikipedia and biological research, it was only a matter of time before somebody created an open-source beer". 1
There have also been several proposals for open source pharmaceutical development, like this one, which led to the establishment of the Tropical Disease Initiative. There are also a number of not-for-profit "virtual pharmas" such as the Institute for One World Health and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative.
See also
- Gift economy
- Open Design — the application of open source principles to creating material objects and solutions.
- Openness — the philosophical term
- Open Source Marketing — an overview of a new way of marketing
External links
- Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution ebook with artiles of major playes including Richard Stallman, Larry Wall, and Marshall Kirk McKusick. O'Reilly, 1st ion January 1999 ISBN 1-56592-582-3,
- Wide open: Open source methods and their future potential by Geoff Mulgan, Omar Salem, Tom Steinberg (pdf file) ISBN 1841801429
- Open Source Software Development as a Special Type of Academic ReSearch with Google Nikolai Bezroukov's page that links open source and academic research
- The Future of Open Source Business Models A paper from the 2004 OSCOM.