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it stands for "open-source software". It's never abbreviated as "OS" for obvious reasons.
by jdxcode 6y ago
it stands for "open-source software". It's never abbreviated as "OS" for obvious reasons.
- oars 6y agoThanks, I guess I'll add "Open Source Software" to my list of unusual yet widely understood verbs. The English language confuses a native German speaker once again!
- sushid 6y agoI wouldn't call it unusual although I hear FOSS more often.
- ygra 6y agoAs a noun I'd agree on it not being unusual, but as a verb it's weird.
- evv 6y agoTo be fair, I am a native english speaker and this is the first time I've seen it used as a verb. "OSS" generally acts as a noun. In this instance I would have used "open source" as the verb of what you could do to your proprietary Software, after which it would become OSS.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- playpause 6y agoI wouldn’t add that to your list of widely understood verbs based on a single HN comment. Any noun can be (mis)used as a verb in modern English, if speaking very informally, and often with a slight tongue-in-cheek humour about the clunky incorrectness of it. Some examples eventually become mainstream (to google something, to text someone, to roadmap it).
- jdxcode 6y agoOther commenters saying it isn't used as a verb are wrong. They're correct that people never say "I open-source softwared my last project." However you can definitely use "open-source" as a verb: "I open-sourced my last project." It's pretty common. And in this case "OSS" stands for "open-source", not "open-source software". What's confusing you is that when we use the abbreviation "OSS" we're really intended people to read that as "open-source" even though the abbreviation technically means "open-source software". btw, you would never verbally spell out "OSS"—chiefly because it's the same number of syllables as "open-source".