News

The .NET Foundation Joins the Open Source Initiative's Affiliate Program

Submitted by Deb Nicholson on Tue, 2020-10-20 08:21

PALO ALTO, Calif., October 20th, 2020 -- The Open Source Initiative® (OSI), the international authority in open source licensing, is excited to announce the affiliate membership of the .NET Foundation, the world's biggest repository of .NET projects and resources. Welcoming the .NET Foundation to the OSI Affiliate program further solidifies the .NET community's commitment to open source and highlights the open source movement's continued success across many different platforms.

Two Affiliate Events Later This Month

Submitted by Deb Nicholson on Fri, 2020-10-09 11:20

October in 2019 was packed with opportunities to catch up -- in person -- with many of our open source friends. This year is different, but there are still opportunities to learn, grow and even meet people. The only downsides? No long flights, no camping out in hotel lobbies waiting for your room to be ready and no jetlag.

Announcing Our Sustainability Coordinator Role

Submitted by Deb Nicholson on Tue, 2020-10-06 14:05

The Open Source Initiative is in the middle of growth year which means we're building capacity and hiring staff. We're looking for someone to help us with capacity building, who has experience in both fundraising and relationship management. If you are interested in working with us or you know someone who is, please get in touch!

Join us for OSI's first State of the Source Summit!

Submitted by jenn.cummings on Mon, 2020-08-24 15:52

We need open source now, more than ever. Now is the time to foster global connections, knowledge exchange and cross-border collaboration. Only by working together can we make bigger strides in solving some of the world’s most pressing problems. The mission of OSI has always been to advocate for the benefits of open source and to build bridges among different constituencies in the open source community. Our goal is to establish State of Source as a platform to bring together open source projects, communities and advocates from around the world.

Announcing OSI's New Interim General Manager

Submitted by administrator on Thu, 2020-08-20 11:00

The Open Source Initiative is bringing in Deb Nicholson as its new Interim General Manager. Nicholson will be supporting the organization through a period of growth and introspection over the upcoming year as stakeholders continue building on the non-profit's past successes. She will be overseeing day-to-day operations, including marketing, staffing and infrastructure, as well as supporting board and volunteer activities.

OSI's President, Josh Simmons elaborates, "We're thrilled to welcome Deb as an Interim General Manager at OSI. Her credentials are top notch, and she's well respected within the free and open source software communities... I couldn't ask for a better partner as OSI works through its second major transformation! Deb's roots in the software freedom community and at Conservancy bode well for our movements as we strive to present a more unified front to advance our shared goals."

February 2020 License-Discuss Summary

Submitted by travinkeith on Mon, 2020-07-20 19:22

In February, the License-Discuss mailing list discussed the OSD and compulsory user reporting, the delisting of licenses, the MIT-Clone and conern on the copyright notice, GDPR/CCPA and the Cryptographic Autonomy License (Beta 4), the CERN Open Hardware License 2.0, Ethical Open Source Licensing – Persona non Grata Preamble, Fairness vs Mission Objectives of the OSI, ethical open source licensing - Dual Licensing for Justice, discouraging governments from creating bespoke licenses, and the psychological relationship between an author and the work.

License Review Process Update

Submitted by administrator on Mon, 2020-07-20 07:15

We’d like to update you on some work we have underway on improving the OSI’s work on reviewing open source licenses. We’re working on two initiatives, one substantive and one process.

OASIS Open Joins Open Source Initiative

Submitted by administrator on Tue, 2020-06-30 07:00

Shared vision and combined resources extend both organizations’ ability to advance open source through standards.

OASIS Open Logo

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 30, 2020 -- The Open Source Initiative^® (OSI), the internationally recognized steward of the Open Source Definition and open source licenses, is excited to announce the Affiliate Membership of OASIS Open, a global nonprofit consortium managing a broad technical agenda encompassing cybersecurity, blockchain, privacy, cryptography, cloud computing, IoT, urban mobility, emergency management, and other content technologies.

Celebrating GNOME's Patent Settlement

Submitted by administrator on Thu, 2020-06-11 09:00

Fireworks

The Open Source Initiative would like to congratulate the GNOME Foundation on its recent settlement of the patent lawsuit alleging that the Shotwell software infringed patents owned by Rothschild Patent Imaging. The settlement was a huge achievement -- not only did GNOME pay nothing, but Rothschild Patent Imaging and its owner, Leigh M. Rothschild, have agreed that, for all of their patents and future patents, they will not sue any user or developer of software under an Open Source Initiative-approved license (and their updated versions) where the software forms a material part of the infringement allegation. That is freedom from suit for the open source software world for over 100 patents.

State of the Source Summit

Submitted by administrator on Thu, 2020-06-11 07:00

SotS Header

A World-wide Open Source Summit: Build your local community, while engaging the global community.

The State of the Source Summit invites open source communities of practice from around the world to organize and contribute to a global conversation on the current state of open source software: non-technical issues that foster development and community, the licenses that enable collaboration, the practices that promote contribution, and the issues confronting cooperation.

Conference Goals

Share the current state of open source licenses: understanding their value and impediments to further adoption.
Identify current, non-technical, issues affecting open source software, development, and communities through the lenses of developers, companies, and projects.
Conceptualize and plan for what the future may hold for open source software as a community and the Open Source Initiative as an organization.