[Balug-Talk] license count != software popularity (Re: Open Source less popular than Free Software)

[Jesse Zbikowski]

On 9/27/07, Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:
> The fact that it's a _nod_ to (and, in a screwball way, loosely based
> on) open source software is probably true but irrelevant to my point
> that it's a different meaning being established in a _different
> context_.

I'm getting deja vu from that "open source" thread on lwn some weeks
ago.  I think we agree that the important thing is to fix the meaning
of "open source" in the context of software.  If people want to use
the phrase in other contexts, in a derivative way, then I have to
judge on a case-by-case basis whether that is more confusing or
illuminating.

> > For example, the author Thomas Friedman refers to almost any kind of
> > online project that's "bottom up" / "distributed" / "collaborative" as
> > being "open source", e.g. bloggers are "open source" journalists.
>
> But that is almost certainly _not_ a borrowing from the software
> context, but rather from spook-industry jargon.

Actually, this is also a direct reference to open source software.
Here's the definition on the Wikipedia page for his book, "The World
Is Flat":

Open sourcing: Communities uploading and collaborating on online
projects. Examples include open source software, blogs, and Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_world_is_flat

I've seen this guy on TV, saying stuff like, "We need an open source
approach to foreign policy.  Let's get some bloggers in the White
House!".  By which he means, let's reach a grass-roots consensus
instead of letting a few executives call the shots.  That's not
necessarily a bad idea in itself, but I'm not sure it should be
conflated with the idea of open source.

> had a long-running late-night programme called "Open Sources":  Same
> proximate semantic origin.

I don't know about this one; there was a show called "Open Source" on
PRI, which definitely referred to F/L/OSS.

As far as I know, anybody who says "open source" (other than the OSINT
guys) is deliberately referring to open source software.  I hope that
they are usefully extending the idea in other contexts, and not
misrepresenting it.

("Introducing Subway's new Open Source Sandwich!  Choose your own bread!")