OASIS Open Joins Open Source Initiative
Shared vision and combined resources extend both organizations’ ability to advance open source through standards.
PALO ALTO, Calif., June 30, 2020 — The Open Source Initiative® (OSI), the internationally recognized steward of the Open Source Definition and open source licenses, is excited to announce the Affiliate Membership of OASIS Open, a global nonprofit consortium managing a broad technical agenda encompassing cybersecurity, blockchain, privacy, cryptography, cloud computing, IoT, urban mobility, emergency management, and other content technologies.
“OASIS Open and OSI have been informal collaborators on licensing and other topics from the early days of the OpenDocument Format to our recent Open Projects Program,” noted Guy Martin, Executive Director of OASIS Open. “We are delighted to formalize our relationship as a sign of our mutual commitment to expanding the role of open source in the standards definition process and look forward to an exciting future for this combined open ecosystem.”
Founded in 1993, the OASIS Open community is committed to advancing work that lowers cost, improves efficiency, stimulates innovation, grows global markets, and promotes interoperability. Each project operates independently under OASIS’s industry-leading process and clear Intellectual Property Rights.
Begun in 2019, the OASIS Open Projects program provides open source communities with foundation-level support—for governance, intellectual property (IP) management, collaboration tools, outreach and events—with an optional path to standardization and de jure approval for reference in international policy and procurement. Open Projects lets communities choose from seven currently-supported, OSI-approved licenses.
OASIS Open and OSI have been consultative partners helping shape open source and open standards work in many technology domains, including ensuring that OASIS Open programs satisfy the criteria defined by OSI’s Open Standards Requirements (OSR), which mandates standards must not prohibit conforming implementations in open source software. OASIS Open also enjoys productive liaison and peer relationships with several of OSI’s other Affiliate Members.
“OASIS Open has been the most important pioneer of approaches to bridging the gap between open standards and open source, and we are excited to have a new basis on which to collaborate going forward,” said Pam Chestek, OSI Board Director and Chair, OSI Standards Committee.
The OSI Affiliate Member Program allows non-profit organizations—unequivocally independent groups with a commitment to open source—to join the OSI in support of our work to promote and protect open source software. As the steward of the Open Source Definition certifying Open Source Software Licenses, by establishing such certification as the standard for open source software development and distribution, and with the support of our Affiliate Membership, the OSI has become a cornerstone of software freedom.
About OASIS Open
One of the most respected, member-driven standards bodies in the world, OASIS Open offers projects—including open source projects—a path to standardization and de jure approval for reference in international policy and procurement. Their members include major multinational companies, SMEs, government agencies, universities, research institutions, consulting groups, and individuals are represented. Please see https://oasis-open-projects.org for more information.
About The Open Source Initiative
Founded in 1998, the Open Source Initiative (OSI) protects and promotes open source software, development and communities, championing software freedom in society through education, collaboration, and infrastructure, stewarding the Open Source Definition, and preventing abuse of the ideals and ethos inherent to the open source movement. The OSI is a public charity with global vision based in California. For more information about the OSI, please see https://opensource.org.