---
title: Open Source Movement
tags: [open-source, gnu, linux, licensing]
status: active
confidence: high
created: 2026-04-09
sources:
  - file: public-domain/raymond-cathedral-bazaar-1999.txt
    hash: placeholder
    size: 0
    ingested: 2026-04-09
aliases: []
---

# Open Source Movement

The open source movement established that software whose source code is publicly available and freely modifiable could be commercially and technically superior to proprietary alternatives. It transformed how software is produced, distributed, and governed.

## Richard Stallman and GNU (1983)

Richard Stallman, a programmer at MIT's AI Lab, announced the GNU Project in 1983 with the goal of creating a completely free Unix-compatible operating system. In 1985 he published the GNU Manifesto and founded the Free Software Foundation. In 1989 he released the GNU General Public License (GPL) — the copyleft licence that requires derivative works to remain free. GNU produced essential tools (gcc, bash, glibc) that underpin [[unix-history]]-derived systems to this day.

## Linux (1991)

Linus Torvalds, a Finnish student, released the Linux kernel in 1991, famously announcing it as "just a hobby, won't be big and professional." Combined with GNU tools, the GNU/Linux system became the first complete free operating system. Linux is now the dominant kernel in servers, cloud infrastructure, Android devices, and embedded systems. Its development model — thousands of contributors coordinated through patches and version control — influenced how all large software projects are managed.

## The Cathedral and the Bazaar (1999)

Eric Raymond's essay contrasted two development models: the cathedral (closed, small team, periodic releases) versus the bazaar (open, many contributors, continuous releases). The bazaar model's success with Linux challenged conventional software engineering wisdom. The essay directly influenced Netscape's decision to open-source its browser code, leading to Mozilla Firefox.

## Open Source Initiative and Licensing

The Open Source Initiative (OSI), founded in 1998 by Bruce Perens and Eric Raymond, formalised the "open source" definition and approved licences. The spectrum of licences — GPL (copyleft), MIT/BSD (permissive), Apache — reflects different philosophies about freedom and commercial use. GitHub (2008) lowered the barrier to participation further, making open source the default for new software infrastructure.

## Impact

Open source now underpins virtually all internet infrastructure: Linux servers, Apache/Nginx web servers, MySQL/PostgreSQL databases, Python and JavaScript runtimes, containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes). The [[internet-origins]] web runs almost entirely on open source software. Open source also became the standard publishing model for [[artificial-intelligence-history]] research, with models and frameworks released publicly.

See also: [[unix-history]] for the operating system that open source first replicated; [[programming-languages-overview]] for how open-source languages (Python, Ruby, Rust) came to dominate.
