open
= O =
open switch
open source n.
[common; also adj. `open-source'] Term
coined in March 1998 following the Mozilla release to describe
software distributed in source under licenses guaranteeing anybody
rights to freely use, modify, and redistribute, the code. The
intent was to be able to sell the hackers' ways of doing software
to industry and the mainstream by avoiding the negative
connotations (to suits) of the term "free software".
For discussion of the follow-on tactics and their consequences, see
the Open Source Initiative site.
--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.