Portland, OR: There was a time that everyone in the Linux and open-source world knew about the Open Source Initiative (OSI). It was, and still is, the group which manages the Open Source Definition. This is the core open-source defining document for developers, governments, and businesses. All the other open-source licensees—Apache, BSD, GPL—all some of their legitimately to the OSI. In recent years, though, the OSI has laid fallow. Now, it wants to change that and once more become a vital part of the open-source community.
At OSCon, the OSI announced that it would accepting applications for Individual Membership.The new Individual Membership category allows individuals who support the mission and work of the OSI to join discussions about that work, to be represented in the evolving governance of the OSI, and to spin up task-focused Working Groups to tackle open-source community needs. Individual Members are asked to make a tax-deductible donation to support the mission of OSI. You can find out more out OSI Individual Membership at the site.
I asked Simon Phipps, OSI President, and long time open-source leader why someone would want to join the OSI considering how quiet the organization had been over the last few years. Phipps replied, “we looked at our mission statement on opensource.org and felt we needed to re-focus on what it says!”
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is a non-profit corporation with global scope formed to educate about and advocate for the benefits of open source and to build bridges among different constituencies in the open source community.