Members Newsletter – January 2024
It’s a new year and that means it’s time to elect a new Board of Directors at the OSI! The elections timeline was announced on January 16. Nominations will be open from February 5, 2024 to March 4, 2024. Polls will then be open for voting from March 8, 2024 to March 18, 2024.
All nominees must be full OSI members (supporter or professional levels) before nominations open on Feb 5th. All full members in good standings as of March 8th can vote. If you’re not a full member, become one now.
Advocacy for Open Source is as important as ever. As the steward of the Open Source Definition, a strong and involved community is essential in this time of new licenses emerging that may or may not fit the Definition. And AI is keeping everyone on their toes as the OSI continues to work toward the establishment of an Open Source AI Definition.
Make sure to sign up as a full member of OSI so your vote can be counted. And if you’re interested in playing a more active role as a member of the OSI Board, get ready to cast your nomination before March 8!
2024 is going to be a great year of change and we welcome participation from individuals and organizations around the globe.
Stefano Maffulli
Executive Director, OSI
I hold weekly office hours on Fridays with OSI members: book time if you want to chat about OSI’s activities, if you want to volunteer or have suggestions.
News from the OSI
ClearlyDefined: recapping a year of progress and sharing a vision for 2024
From the License and legal program
Thanks to the amazing work from our community members, a lot of progress has been made in 2023, but there’s still a lot of work ahead of us. In this post, we would like to highlight some milestones achieved this past year and acknowledge some individuals who have contributed to the project. We would also like to share a vision for 2024 and invite all organizations who care about the Open Source supply chain to become involved. Read more.
OSI work in developing an Open Source AI definition featured in the State of the Digital Public Goods Ecosystem 2023 report
From the Policy and standards program
The Open Source community should not write its own definition of an AI system as there are too many dangers with doing that. Most importantly, adopting a vocabulary foreign to the AI world increases the risks of not being understood or accepted. It’s a lot more effective and will be more palatable to use a widely adopted definition. Read more.
OSI in the news
Delayed Open Source Publication Emerges as Open Source Rival
OSI at The New Stack
In a notable shift within the software industry, Delayed Open Source Publication (DOSP) has emerged as a nuanced strategy blending proprietary and open source licensing. This approach involves initially releasing software under a proprietary license, followed by a planned transition to an open source license. Read more
Delayed Open Source Publication
Download OSI’s groundbreaking research paper by Schoen, Vasile, and Fogel exploring the boundaries between proprietary and open source. Learn more about the Business Source License (BUSL) and how outside contributions are affected by using (or switching to) a DOSP model rather than an Open Source license. Download report.
OSI affiliates in the news
Unveiling the future of open-source generative AI: Insights from the Linux Foundation’s 2023 survey
Linux Foundation at ZDNET
Linux Foundation’s 2023 Open Source Generative AI Report was crafted by Adrienn Lawson, Marco Gerosa, and Stephen Hendrick, reveals the latest advancements in this rapidly evolving field on the ever-shifting terrain of generative AI. Read more.
2023: The Year Open Source Security Supply Chain Grew Up
OpenSSF at The New Stack
Open source security has always been important. We just pretended otherwise. We don’t have that luxury of laziness anymore. Now, the U.S. government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Open Source Software Security Roadmap has declared we must secure open source software. It’s not just in the State. In the European Union (EU), the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) is well on its way to demanding software to disclose software vulnerabilities within 24 hours and provide a minimum five-year guaranteed patch support. Read more.
Open source AI trends for 2024 according to Eclipse Foundation
Eclipse Foundation at App Developer Magazine
Each year I usually like to make a few predictions about where the software industry, open source, and Eclipse Foundation projects are headed. This year is going to be a little broader, as some large trends are going to impact us in ways that should be discussed and understood. Read more.
What’s next for Mozilla?
Mozilla at TechCrunch
Mozilla launched Mozilla.ai just around the time GPT-4 launched and the first Llama models became widely available. Surman described this as a “focusing moment” for the organization. “Mozilla AI, which had a broad mandate around finding open source, trustworthy AI opportunities and build a business around them. Read more.
One of the world’s largest AI training datasets is about to get bigger and ‘substantially better’
EleutherAI at VentureBeat
EleutherAI is now building an updated version of the Pile dataset, in collaboration with multiple organizations including the University of Toronto and the Allen Institute for AI, as well as independent researchers. In a joint interview with VentureBeat, Stella Biderman, executive director at EleutherAI, and Aviya Skowron, EleutherAI’s head of policy and ethics, said the updated Pile dataset is a few months away from being finalized. Read more.
Upcoming events
Open Source AI Definition Town Hall
January 26, 2024 – Online (APAC-friendly time)
Join Stefano Maffulli, Executive Director at the Open Source Initiative to hear the latest news, and comment on the drafts of the Open Source AI Definition. Read more.
EU Open Source Policy Summit 2024
February 2, 2024 – Brussels, Belgium
The 10-year anniversary of the OpenForum Europe’s EU Open Source Policy Summit is taking place on 2 February 2024, just before FOSDEM. The Summit is the world’s largest assembly of policymakers, Open Source businesses, community members, developers, foundations, and experts engaged in digital policy. Read more.
FOSDEM 2024
February 3-4, 2024 – Brussels, Belgium
FOSDEM is a free event for software developers to meet, share ideas and collaborate. Every year, thousands of developers of free and open source software from all over the world gather at the event in Brussels. Read more.
FOSS Backstage 2024
March 4-5, 2024 – Berlin, Germany
We want to encourage more discourse about the non-coding aspects of successful open source projects. Join us to learn more about what goes on behind the stages of Free and Open Source Software! The sixth edition of FOSS Backstage will take place in Berlin (and online) on 4th and 5th March 2024. Read more.
ORT Community Days 2024
March 6-7, 2024 – Berlin, Germany
Join us on March 6-7 2024, on Bosch IoT Campus in Berlin for two days of presentations, workshops and brainstorms on all things ORT (OSS Review Toolkit) from sharing best practices, technical deep-dives till building processes with ORT. The ORT Community Days are an opportunity for anyone who is looking to automate open source management within their organization whether license, security or ways of working. Read more.
Thanks to our sponsors
Thanks to our new and renewing sponsors
- Red Hat
- Meta Platforms, Inc.
- Capital One
- OpenProject
- Lex Pan Law LLC
Interested in sponsoring or partnering with the OSI? Please see our Sponsorship Prospectus and Annual Report. Contact us to find out more about how your organization can promote open source development, communities and software.
Support OSI by becoming a member
Full members are eligible to vote and run as a candidate
Let’s build a world where knowledge is freely shared, ideas are nurtured, and innovation knows no bounds!