The organization was founded in February 1998 by Bruce Perens and Erick S. Raymond, promoted by NetScape Communication Corporation publishing the source code for its flatship NetScape Comunicator product. Later, in August 1998 the organization added a board of directors.
Although born from the same history of unix, Internet free software, and the hacker culture as the free software movement launched by Richard Stallman and his free software foundation, the Open Source Initiative was formed and chose the term "open source", in Michael Tiemann's words,
To dump the moralizing and confrontational attitude that had been
associated with free software in the past and sell the idea strictly on the same
pragmatic, bussiness case rounds that had motivated
NetScape.
Stallman counter-charges that oversized pragmatic focus on a model for software development and marketing ignores what he considers to be the central "ethically imperative" and the focus on "freedom" that underlines free software as he defines it and blurs the distinction with semi-free or wholly proprietary software.
1.- What is the Open Source Initiative?
The Open Source Initiative is an ORGANIZATION.
2.- From where does it come from?
This organization comes from Netscape Communications.
3.- Why is it called "open source"?
Netscape published its source code making it available to everybody.
The Open Source Initiative releases free software for everyone to use. Open source is used instead of the "free software" term because they want to avoid the arguments of products being given away freely when people have worked for them.
Free: public domain (freeware)
Semi-free: shareware
Wholly proprietary: licensed
Public domain vs. Proprietary
