推行术语“开源软件” 是特地为了这个领域让新手和商业人士更加易懂a deliberate effort to make this field of endeavor more understandable to newcomers and to business, which was viewed as necessary to its spread to a broader community of users. 早期称号的问题是，“自由软件”，并非有政治含义，但是那对于新手来说貌似对于价格的关注令人心烦意乱。一个术语需要聚焦于源代码的关键问题而且不会被立即把概念跟那些新东西混淆。一个恰好想出并且满足这些要求的第一个术语被快速接受：开源。
1998 年 2 月 2 日，Eric Raymond 抵达访问网景并与它一起计划采用免费软件样式的许可证发布浏览器代码。我们那晚在前瞻位于罗斯阿尔托斯（Los Altos）的办公室制定了策略并改进了我们的要旨。除了 Eric 和我，活跃的参与者还有 Brian Behlendorf，Michael Tiemann，Todd Anderson，Mark S. Miller and Ka-Ping Yee。但在那次会议上，这个领域仍然被描述成“自由软件”，或者用 Brian 的话说， 叫“可获得源代码的” 软件。
在那周的会议中，我仍然专注于起一个更好的名字并提出术语 “开源软件”came up with the term "open source software." While not ideal, it struck me as good enough. I ran it by at least four others: Eric Drexler, Mark Miller, and Todd Anderson liked it, 然而一个从事市场公关的朋友觉得术语“open”被滥用了并且相信我们能做更好再说。理论上它是对的，可我想不出更好的了，所以我想尝试并推广它。 事后一想我应该直接向 Eric Raymond 提案，但在那时我并不是很了解他，所以我采取了间接的策略。
会议的主要议题是推广策略，特别是要接洽的公司。 我几乎没说什么，而是在寻找机会推广已经提交讨论的术语。我觉得突然脱口而出那句话没什么用，“你们技术人员应当开始讨论我的新术语了。”他们大多数与会者不认识我，而且据我所知，他们可能甚至不同意对新术语的急切需求，或者是某种渴望。I felt that it wouldn't work for me to just blurt out, "All you technical people should startusing my new term." Most of those attending didn't know me, and for all I knew, they might not even agree that a new term was greatly needed, or even somewhat desirable.
Not so—memetic evolution was in action. A few minutes later, one of the others used the term, evidently without noticing, still discussing a topic other than terminology. Todd and I looked at each other out of the corners of our eyes to check: yes, we had both noticed what happened. I was excited—it might work! But I kept quiet: I still had low status in this group. Probably some were wondering why Eric had invited me at all.
临近会议尾声，可能是 Todd or Eric，[术语问题][8]被明确提出。Maddog 提及了一个早期的术语“可自由分发的，和一个新的术语“合作开发的”。Eric列出了“自由软件”、“开源软件”，并把[unknown]作为主要选项。Todd宣传“开源”模型，然后Eric 支持了他。我什么也没说，letting Todd and Eric pull the (loose, informal) consensus together around the open source name. It was clear that to most of those at the meeting, the name change was not the most important thing discussed there; a relatively minor issue. 只有我在会议中大约10%的说明放在了术语问答中。
But I was elated. These were some key leaders in the community, and they liked the new name, or at least didn't object. This was a very good sign. There was probably not much more I could do to help; Eric Raymond was far better positioned to spread the new meme, and he did. Bruce Perens signed on to the effort immediately, helping set up[Opensource.org][9]and playing a key role in spreading the new term.
对于这个成功的名字，那很必要，甚至是相当渴望， 因此 Tim O'Reilly 同意以社区的名义在公司积极使用它。 Also helpful would be use of the term in the upcoming official release of the Netscape Navigator code. 到二月底， O'Reilly & Associates 还有网景公司（Netscape） 已经开始使用新术语。
这几个月对于开源来说是相当激动人心的。似乎每周都有一个新公司宣布加入计划。Reading Slashdot became a necessity, even for those like me who were only peripherally involved. 我十分相信新术语能对快速传播到商业很有帮助，能被公众广泛使用。
当一个被 Eric Raymond 写的有关修改术语的早期的陈述被发布在了开放源代码促进会的网站上时，我上了 VA 头脑风暴会议的名单，但并不是作为一个术语的创始人。这是我自己的错，我没告诉 Eric 细节。我当时一时冲动只想让它表决通过然后我只是呆在后台，但是 Todd 不这样认为。他认为我总有一天将作为“开源软件”这个名词的创造者而感到高兴。他向 Eric 解释了这个情况，Eric 及时更新了它的网站。
[][13] Christine Peterson-Christine Peterson writes, lectures, and briefs the media on coming powerful technologies, especially nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and longevity. She is Cofounder and Past President of Foresight Institute, the leading nanotech public interest group. Foresight educates the public, technical community, and policymakers on coming powerful technologies and how to guide their long-term impact. She serves on the Advisory Board of the[Machine Intelligence...][2][more about Christine Peterson][3][More about me][4]
