openinfra
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four-opens
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Fix footnotes

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Chris Hoge 2018-11-06 15:33:08 -08:00
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1 changed files with 26 additions and 25 deletions
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@ -6,26 +6,26 @@ Where do the Four Opens originate from? They came from a need to do things
differently.
Free software started in the 80’s by defining four (initially three)
freedoms [1]_ that any free software should grant its users. Freedom 0 was the
freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose. Freedom 1 was the
freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing
as you wish. Freedom 2 was the freedom to redistribute copies so you can help
your neighbor. Freedom 3 was the freedom to distribute copies of your modified
versions to others. Those freedoms made you free to improve the program, and
release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits.
But free software did not mandate anything about how the software was to be
built to actually encourage this collaboration across boundaries that would
result in benefiting the whole community.
freedoms [#fourfreedoms]_ that any free software should grant its users. Freedom
0 was the freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose. Freedom 1
was the freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your
computing as you wish. Freedom 2 was the freedom to redistribute copies so you
can help your neighbor. Freedom 3 was the freedom to distribute copies of your
modified versions to others. Those freedoms made you free to improve the
program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole
community benefits. But free software did not mandate anything about how the
software was to be built to actually encourage this collaboration across
boundaries that would result in benefiting the whole community.
When open source was defined in 1998, it focused on a specific angle (the one
that mattered the most to businesses), which is the availability and
re-usability of the code. That also said remarkably little about how the
software should be built, and nothing about who really controls it. As a
result by 2010 most open source projects were actually closed one way or
another: their core development may be done behind closed walls, or their
governance may be locked down to ensure control by its main sponsor. Sure,
their end product was licensed under an open source license, but those were not
really community projects anymore.
software should be built, and nothing about who really controls it. As a result
by 2010 most open source projects were actually closed one way or another:
their core development may be done behind closed walls, or their governance may
be locked down to ensure control by its main sponsor. Sure, their end product
was licensed under an open source license, but those were not really community
projects anymore.
The control of a specific party over the code is discouraging contributors to
participate: those are seen as free labor and are not on a level playing field
@ -55,13 +55,13 @@ open source cloud infrastructure platform available.
It was from these conditions that "The Four Opens" were born. The first public
mention of them was posted on the then-nascent OpenStack Wiki on June 28,
2010[1]_, before OpenStack was even publicly discussed or announced. The
titles of the Four Opens (Open source, Open Design, Open Development, Open
Community) were set from that day. The content evolved a bit over time on the
Wiki, as implementation details rolled in (for example: public code reviews,
design summits, technical committee, lazy and consensus). The Four Opens
description is now maintained officially in the OpenStack governance
web-site[2]_.
2010 [#fouropenswiki]_, before OpenStack was even publicly discussed or
announced. The titles of the Four Opens (Open source, Open Design, Open
Development, Open Community) were set from that day. The content evolved a bit
over time on the Wiki, as implementation details rolled in (for example: public
code reviews, design summits, technical committee, lazy and consensus). The
Four Opens description is now maintained officially in the OpenStack governance
web-site [#fouropens]_.
After eight years, the Four Opens proved pretty resilient, consistently
managing to capture the "OpenStack Way" of doing upstream open source
@ -74,5 +74,6 @@ generally support Open Infrastructure, the Four Opens will grow beyond
OpenStack. Let's apply them to other nascent open source projects with the same
success.
[1]_ https://wiki.openstack.org/w/index.php?title=Open&oldid=9628
[2]_ https://governance.openstack.org/tc/reference/opens.html
.. [#fourfreedoms] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html
.. [#fouropenswiki] https://wiki.openstack.org/w/index.php?title=Open&oldid=9628
.. [#fouropens] https://governance.openstack.org/tc/reference/opens.html