Open Source Initiative (OSI)

The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is an umbrella organization for open source software in general.

Philosophy

businesses were hesitant to adopt the free software philosophy
- couldn’t make money
OSI created a new term, open source, to advocate for free software but with softened imperatives
mission statement:
- “Open source enables a development method for software that harness the power of distributed peer review and transparency of precess. The promise of open source is higher quality, better reliability, greater flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in.”

Open source doesn’t just mean access to the source code. The distribution terms of open source software must comply with the following criteria:

Free redistribution
- license must permit redistribution, including as part of a larger work
Source code availability
- author must make source code available and permit redistribution of source code and binary code if applicable
Permission to derive works
- must permit others to modify the software and to distribute it under the same license as the original
Respect for source code integrity
- may restrict redistribution of modified source code, but only if patch files may be distributed along with the original source code
- may require that derived works change the software’s name or version number
No discrimination against persons or groups
No discrimination against fields of endeavor
Automatic license distribution
- must apply to anybody who receives the program, without needing a separate agreement
License must not be specific to a product
- must not required that the program be used as part of a larger program
License must not restrict other software
- must not impose restrictions on other software that’s distributed along with the licensed software
Technology-neutrality
- must not be restricted based on specific technologies