4 ms·

Considering the term originated with them, it's fair to say they get to dictate what it means.

• SquareWheel 4y ago
  Ah, things would be simpler indeed if words could be dictated.
  • rnd0 4y ago
    And they can be -that's why we have dictionaries. Terms DO have meanings whether contrarians and the argumentative want to acknowledge those meanings or not.
    • deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    • Karunamon 4y ago
      Dictionaries are descriptive, not prescriptive. The meaning of terms outside of specific fields like law is based on consensus, not authority. Merriam-Webster doesn't own the English language, and neither does OSI.
      • mfo4321 4y ago
        [dead]
      • commoner 4y ago
        If you want to look for consensus, there's no better place than Wikipedia. > Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software Citations for this sentence (many more in the full article): - https://books.google.com/books?id=04jG7TTLujoC&pg=PA4#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=04jG7TTLujoC&pg=PA4#v=onep... - https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/ital/article/view/5105 https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/ital/article/view/5105