[Ads-l] "Open Source" Not in OED

[Daphne Preston-Kendal]

On 3 Dec 2023, at 03:41, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

> The term "open source," referring to software, is not yet in OED.  The earliest use I see in LexisNexis is PR Newswire, Feb. 23, 1998.

The Open Source Initiative claims the term was invented in a meeting on 3 February 1998, so it’s unlikely to go very much further back in terms of public mentions relevant to the political movement per se. <https://opensource.org/history/>

That said, here’s a usage from 1996 predating that movement: <https://groups.google.com/g/no.linux/c/1UZo-3iv0tM/m/XPrPljdFk6gJ>

You can push back the references to the political movement by a week or two with a Google Groups search for ["open source" before:1998-02-23]. Here’s the earliest I could find: <https://groups.google.com/g/gnu.misc.discuss/c/UlEsHndTByk/m/Ie0Ma2r9AKUJ>
The linked web page isn’t in the WayBack Machine until 1999.

‘Open source intelligence’ predates the software use by at least a few years, it seems. Possibly an influence.


Daphne

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