Wikipedia is where linguists go when they are bored. So they long settled that it is “open source” (if used standalone) and “open-source software” (if open-source is a modifier/attribute to a noun). Now the Open Source Initiative found a linguist who argues there should be no hyphen at all. In my book, there is a difference between open-source software and open source software (the first one being software that is open-source, and the second one being software that is about open-source software like GitHub, but that is not itself open-source software).
However, all that confusion misses the point: It is way too simple, and open source should be spelled for maximum name recognition.
The InnerSource Commons foundation shows us the way: To have a shot at trademarking the term inner source, it needs to be distinct from a plain word like inner source. Through the grapevine I heard that the Open Source Initiative once tried to trademark the term open source, but failed because it was too simple. So OpenSource might have been better. Let’s take a page from the Inner Source Foundation oops InnerSource Commons foundation’s playbook.
What are the options? At a minimum they are: Spaces/dashes/underscores, ALL CAPS, CamelCase, bold and italics markers, and then some that I’m afraid of to say out loud.
If we want to give the term open source and related terms clear name recognition, we should not be shy of using distinctive features. Here are some examples:
- OPEN_SOURCE_SOFTWARE (the only constant in life)
- OpenSourceContributor (it’s ups and downs all the way)
- *open* source initiative (still looking for capital letters after all these years)
These options make writing more varied and add the necessary ingredients for trademark applications. Here is how the OSI’s announcement of support of the Open Pledge initiative could be improved:
Today, the OPEN_Source-Initiative announced its support for the Open-Source-Pledge, which asks companies to donate money to OpenSourceContributors, if they remain unpaid for their OPEN_SOURCE_SOFTWARE work.
Did you know that other languages have different rules? For example, it is Open-Source-Software in German. Maybe we should add different languages to the mix.
If you are thinking, it must be April 1st, it is not.
Happy halloween!
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