OSI: License Proliferation

"Seven years ago, in 1998, OSI began evaluating licenses for compliance with the Open Source Definition. Our goals in doing this were: (1) to articulate the social contract that knits together open source software developers, (2) to create a nexus of trust between developers and the corporate and government world that would facilitate more cooperation, and (3) to knit the hackers and the suits together into a larger and stronger open-source community.

"At that time, when OSI was still struggling to build its credibility and neutrality to both groups, the best policy seemed to be a completely non-directive one..."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• internetnews.com: OSI Tackles License 'Explosion'(Apr 04, 2005)
• InfoWorld: Too Many Open Source Licenses?(Mar 08, 2005)
• Editor's Note: OSI's Musical Chairs(Mar 04, 2005)
• CNET News: Open-Source Board Eyes Fewer Licenses(Feb 17, 2005)