To promote and protect open source...

As a global non-profit, The Open Source Initiative (OSI) protects and promotes open source software, development and communities, championing software freedom in society through education, collaboration, and infrastructure, stewarding the Open Source Definition (OSD), and preventing abuse of the ideals and ethos inherent to the open source movement. See our about and history pages for more.

Open source software is software that can be freely used, changed, and shared (in modified or unmodified form) by anyone. Open source software is made by many people, and distributed under licenses that comply with the Open Source Definition.

News

OSI Welcomes Powering Potential: Open Source Advocates Extending Education in Tanzania

Submitted by administrator on Mon, 2016-10-03 08:52

The Open Source Initiative® (OSI), the premiere organization working globally to champion open source in society through education, infrastructure and collaboration; announced today that Powering Potential has joined the OSI as an Affiliate Member.

Powering Potential provides access to educational resources on solar-powered computers running open source software at schools in rural Tanzania. The technology initiative works to enhance education and stimulate imagination of students in Tanzania while respecting and incorporating values of the local culture.

OSI Approved Licenses, a Foundation for Federal Source Code Policy

Submitted by administrator on Wed, 2016-09-21 07:36

In December 2015, the OSI was invited by The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to participate in one of a series of round-tables seeking expertise in drafting the “Federal Source Code Policy – Achieving Efficiency, Transparency, and Innovation through Reusable and Open Source Software." This government-wide policy originated from prior work included in the Second Open Government National Action Plan for the US, requiring U.S.

The Sun gets it wrong, we're here to help.

Submitted by administrator on Sat, 2016-09-10 07:47

Recently the Sun published an article by Ryan Sabey (@ryansabey), “UNION HACK Jeremy Corbyn’s digital democracy manifesto ‘would let foreign spooks rob UK'”. The post included several criticisms from government officials and pundits challenging the quality and security of open source software, cautioning readers, “sensitive data could be at risk under Labour leader's plans.”

Out of the Trash and into the Class: Building a STEM Program by Re-Building Computers.

Submitted by administrator on Mon, 2016-08-22 13:24

While many agree on the importance of extending resources to support Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) curricula within K12 education, there isn't always alignment on the best tools or techniques to, as the US Department of Education explains, equip students with the “knowledge and skills to solve tough problems, gather and evaluate evidence, and make sense of information,” or schools and districts with the resources and expertise to “improve the delivery

OpenSummit: Open Source Software in—and for—Open Education

Submitted by masson on Wed, 2016-07-27 08:42

Openness has become the new standard for content and software across a variety of initiatives in higher education. The success of open source software on campuses, and the same ethos which fosters its development, is also found in open education, open educational resources, open access publishing, open analytics, open data, open science, and open humanities. These open initiatives have matured to challenge, even dominate, the global educational landscape.