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Technology @lemmy.world

retiolus @lemmy.cat

1y ago

Why do all these companies developing privatised software use the word "Open"? Real question.

OpenAI
OpenText
OpenVMS
OpenServer
OpenEdge
OpenDrive
etc.

58 comments

Some of these names (like OpenVMS) are from before the term "open source software" was coined (which was in 1998). They refer instead to "open systems", meaning computer systems with published specifications, interoperable hardware, portable software, etc. -- things that might seem like obvious choices now, but were not in early business computing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_system_(computing)
- Yeah, OpenBSD predates “open source” by a few years and some people actually found the name weird at the time because there was such a strong association with “Open” being used to mean things like “controlled by an industry consortium rather than a single company”.
  
  There was a joke in one of the BOFH episodes (Bastard Operator from Hell for those unfamiliar, look it up if you don't know it, it's worth it) that went like this:
  "So I tell him, 'you can't port Debian to a car computer, it's not an open system' ha ha ha ha"
  That joke was not about the car computer.
- Thak makes sense, thank you!
- things that might seem like obvious choices now
  Not anymore.
  
  Even a heavily proprietary system like iOS is much more of an "open system" in this sense than old mainframes. It uses standard networking protocols, supports programming languages that have published specifications, third-party hardware exists ...

The same reason that USA calls their brand of jingoism "freedom"

its clearly a marketing gimmick. to lend credibility to their products by stealing the goodwill associated with open source initiatives.
its a marketing trick for geeks. these people are jerks.

OpenAI was supposed to make AI R&D basically open for all, but they became closed after they realised how fucking good GPT can be. It's understandable tbh but sad.
- They betrayed their core values. Hypocrites to me.
  
  That's what money'll do to ya.
  If I was presented with billions of dollars of I went proprietary, I too would probably close source my software.
- In an interview Sam altman said "they realise the amount of money they needed would never come only from donations.
  It's still kind of a foundation, he mentioned it in the Lex Friedman podcast.

Because they can and the only ethics a company has are those imposed by laws.

Also more things now call themselfs "open source" even not being like that. AnyType or Llama AI for example.
- I'm pretty sure Anytype is finally open sourcing their code after years of it being in alpha though?
  
  Source is available to the public under their own custom licence, but you cannot use it commercially. Server side is closed. So you just know there is no malware inside and you can propose a bugfix, that's not enough to be open source, yet they misleading call it that.
  
  They had opened sourced part of, but not all of it.

Open your wallet and fill ours

Then wait until you learn how Creative bought up OpenAL (the audio answer to OpenGL and having to work with multiple audio extensions), and made it closed source...

Marketing, literally NOTHING but marketing motivates this shit

(American perspective) Because companies are not only allowed to deceive the public for their benefit, it's expected and encouraged.

I mean OpenAI used to be opensource with older models or?
- So ExOpenAI?
  
  Kinda lol

Pure speculation : the idea of open source sells. It's more appealing than the alternative.
- I'm pretty sure someone like my parents has no idea what that even means, though I guess many of these companies might just be targeting younger people more likely to know
  
  Surely the idea of open or free is always going to play better than closed, locked down and proprietary...? idk

Because they're OpenAssholes™

OpenAI is used for two companies under one umbrella - OpenAI a non-profit and OpenAI a for profit companies. Basically OpenAI non-profit does research and published it publicly, then OpenAI for profit adds bells and whistles and sells it to recoup costs.

Capitalism is a hell of a drug

Reminds me of all those countries claiming to be democratic in their name like Democratic Republic of the Congo, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (aka North Korea), etc.

I've found that they sometimes mean you can interact with an API instead of only via their interface.
But it's just a marketing term. Open gives the image of freedom and thus peace and happiness.
Damn marketing departments.

@retiolus
Bona pregunta. Coses del #marketing segurament.
Per això no ens hem de quedar només amb el nom.

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