I'm the author of the article, I may have made it too long.
TLDR:
- the term "Open Source" was used for at least 13 years prior to OSI's "invention" of the term. It was used in linux and windows developer communities, on national TV in the USA, in commercial software businesses and releases, and at tradeshows. It usually referred to platform portability, the open development model and disclosing of software (sometimes with commercial restrictions).
- OSI gave the term a new meaning, which was both very strict, and also very different from usage at the time
- OSI was never able to trademark the term and therefore has "pinky promised" to the community they get to define what the term means, and the community & industry mostly went with it. Their claims of inventing the term have been repeatedly disputed, but (to my knowledge) never corrected.
The good news is, I think there actually is a harmonious way forward which will accommodate the different "subgroups" of understanding. But that's material for a followup post.
TLDR:
- the term "Open Source" was used for at least 13 years prior to OSI's "invention" of the term. It was used in linux and windows developer communities, on national TV in the USA, in commercial software businesses and releases, and at tradeshows. It usually referred to platform portability, the open development model and disclosing of software (sometimes with commercial restrictions).
- OSI gave the term a new meaning, which was both very strict, and also very different from usage at the time
- OSI was never able to trademark the term and therefore has "pinky promised" to the community they get to define what the term means, and the community & industry mostly went with it. Their claims of inventing the term have been repeatedly disputed, but (to my knowledge) never corrected.
The good news is, I think there actually is a harmonious way forward which will accommodate the different "subgroups" of understanding. But that's material for a followup post.