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by xyzzy_plugh 1316 days ago
> It's not necessary for the OSI to approve a license for the software to be open source

I agree with you, but this is a controversial opinion which is the root of my frustration. OSI tries really hard to own "open source" as a term and while I'm not against the OSD I am against the gate keeping I see.
1 comments
josephcsible 1316 days ago
Why is wanting Open Source to have a single, well-defined meaning a bad thing? If you let everyone who uses words make up their own meanings, isn't https://xkcd.com/1860/ where you end up?
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xyzzy_plugh 1315 days ago
Because it's gatekeeping. If the OSI rules my license doesn't meet the OSD am I going to be socially exiled for labeling my software as open source?

Like any person or institution, the OSI is fallible. It's like saying that only a certain organization can define what Red is, and now look what we have with Pantone.

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djur 1312 days ago
This seems like a hypothetical concern. Has anybody actually had a problem with a clearly OSD-compliant license not being approved? Has anybody been "socially exiled" for not using an OSI-approved license?
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josephcsible 1314 days ago
Should people who sell food get to make up their own definitions of "kosher", "halal", "vegan", etc., without being "socially exiled"? If not, what's the difference between that and this?

And this is nothing like what Adobe and Pantone did.

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xyzzy_plugh 1314 days ago
That's a pretty terrible analogy. Etymologically they bear no resemblance to "open source". A better analogy would be "low fat" or "sugar free".

The more appropriate analogy would be if the Sugar Free Initiative defined "sugar free" and then you correct me by saying "actually that beverage isn't sugar free, it's artificially sweetened".

The world would be a better, more accessible place if we instead focused on what things are or are not, like preferring "OSI Approved License" over "open source" rather than needlessly conflate complex meaning with otherwise simple terminology.

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josephcsible 1313 days ago
> A better analogy would be "low fat" or "sugar free".

Sure, let's go with "sugar free". Should I be allowed to decide that it only refers to cane sugar, and so sell food full of HFCS that's labeled as sugar free?

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