[fuzheng1998 translating] 我是如何创造“开源”这个词的 ============================================================ ### Christine Peterson 最终公开讲述了二十年前那决定命运的一天。 ![How I coined the term 'open source'](https://opensource.com/sites/default/files/styles/image-full-size/public/lead-images/hello-name-sticker-badge-tag.png?itok=fAgbMgBb "How I coined the term 'open source'") 图片来自: opensource.com 几天后, 2 月 3 日, 术语 "[开源软件][6]" 创立20周年的纪念日即将到来。由于开源软件渐受欢迎并且为这个时代强有力的重要变革提供动力，我们仔细思考了它的初生到崛起。 我是 “开源软件” 这个词的始作俑者，它是我在前瞻技术协会（Foresight Institute）担任执行董事时想出的。并非向上面的一个程序开发者一样，我感谢 Linux 程序员 Todd Anderson 对这个术语的支持并将它提交小组讨论。 这是我对于它如何想到的，如何提出的，以及后续影响的记叙。当然，还有一些关于该术语的记叙，例如 Eric Raymond 和 Richard Stallman 写的，而我的，则写于 2006 年 1 月 2 日。 直到今天，它才公诸于世。 * * * The introduction of the term "open source software" was 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。 This term had long been used in an "intelligence" (i.e., spying) context, 但据我所知but to my knowledge, use of the term with respect to software prior to 1998 has not been confirmed. 下面这个就是讲述了术语“开源软件”如何流行起来并且变成了一项产业和一场运动的名字。 ### 计算机安全会议 在1997年的晚些时候，为期一周的会议将被在前瞻技术协会（Foresight Insttitue) 举行来讨论计算机安全问题。这个协会是一个非盈利性智库，它专注于纳米技术和人工智能，并且认为软件安全是二者的安全性以及可靠性的核心。我们在那确定了自由软件是一个改进软件安全可靠性且具有发展前景的方法并将寻找推动它的方式。 对自由软件的兴趣开始在编程社区外开始增长，而且越来越清晰，一个改变世界的机会正在来临。然而，该怎么做我们并不清楚，因为我们当时正在摸索中。 At these meetings, we discussed the need for a new term due to the confusion factor. 观点主要有以下：对于那些新接触“自由软件”的人把它（free）当成了价格。 Oldtimers must then launch into an explanation, usually given as follows: "We mean free as in freedom, not free as in beer." At this point, a discussion on software has turned into one about the price of an alcoholic beverage. The problem was not that explaining the meaning is impossible—the problem was that the name for an important idea should not be so confusing to newcomers. A clearer term was needed. No political issues were raised regarding the free software term; the issue was its lack of clarity to those new to the concept. ### 网景发布 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。We held a meeting that night at Foresight's office in Los Altos to strategize and refine our message.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。 While in town, Eric used Foresight as a base of operations. At one point during his visit, he was called to the phone to talk with a couple of Netscape legal and/or marketing staff. When he was finished, I asked to be put on the phone with them—one man and one woman, perhaps Mitchell Baker—so I could bring up the need for a new term. They agreed in principle immediately, but no specific term was agreed upon. 在那周的会议中，我仍然关注一个更好的名字Between meetings that week, I was still focused on the need for a better name and 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, while a friend in marketing and public relations felt the term "open" had been overused and abused and 相信我们能做的更好。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。 Todd 强烈同意需要新的术语并提供协助推广它。这很有帮助，因为作为一个非编程人员，我在自由软件社区的影响力很弱。我从事的纳米技术是一个加分项，但不足以让我认真地接受自由软件问题的工作。作为一个Linux程序员，Todd 将会更仔细地聆听它。 ### 关键的会议 Later that week, on February 5, 1998, a group was assembled at VA Research to brainstorm on strategy. Attending—in addition to Eric Raymond, Todd, and me—were Larry Augustin, Sam Ockman, and attending by phone, Jon "maddog" Hall. 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。I felt that it wouldn't work for me to just blurt out, "All you technical people should start using 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. Fortunately, Todd was on the ball. Instead of making an assertion that the community should use this specific new term, he did something less directive—a smart thing to do with this community of strong-willed individuals. He simply used the term in a sentence on another topic—just dropped it into the conversation to see what happened. I went on alert, hoping for a response, but there was none at first. The discussion continued on the original topic. It seemed only he and I had noticed the usage. 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. Toward the end of the meeting, the [question of terminology][8] was brought up explicitly, probably by Todd or Eric. Maddog mentioned "freely distributable" as an earlier term, and "cooperatively developed" as a newer term. Eric listed "free software," "open source," and "sourceware" as the main options. Todd advocated the "open source" model, and Eric endorsed this. I didn't say much, 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. Only about 10% of my notes from this meeting are on the terminology question. 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. For the name to succeed, it was necessary, or at least highly desirable, that Tim O'Reilly agree and actively use it in his many projects on behalf of the community. Also helpful would be use of the term in the upcoming official release of the Netscape Navigator code. By late February, both O'Reilly & Associates and Netscape had started to use the term. ### 名字的诞生 在那之后，有一段时间，这条术语由 Eric Raymond 向媒体推广，由 Tim O'Reilly 向商业推广，并由二人向编程社区推广，那似乎传播的相当快。 1998 年 4 月 17 日, Tim O'Reilly 提前宣布 首届 “[自由软件峰会][10]” 在 4 月14 日之前，它以首届 “[开源峰会][11]” 被提及。 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. I strongly believe that the new term was helpful in enabling this rapid spread into business, which then enabled wider use by the public. 尽管快捷的谷歌搜索表明“开源”比“自由软件”出现的更多，但后者仍然有大量的使用，特别是和偏爱它的人们沟通的时候。 ### 一丝快感 When an [early account][12] of the terminology change written by Eric Raymond was posted on the Open Source Initiative website, I was listed as being at the VA brainstorming meeting, but not as the originator of the term. 这是我自己的错，我没告诉 Eric 细节。我一时冲动只想让它表决通过然后我呆在后台，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。 想出这个短语只是一个小贡献，但是我得承认我十分感激那些把它归功于我的人。每次我听到它，它都给我些许激动的喜悦，到现在也时常感受到。 说服团队的大功劳归功于Eric Raymond和 Tim O'Reilly，这是他们搞定的。感谢他们对我的评价，并感谢Todd Anderson 在整个过程中的角色。以上内容并非完整的开源历史记录，对很多没有无名人士表示歉意。那些寻求更完整讲述的人应该参考本文和网上其他地方的链接。 ### 关于作者 [![photo of Christine Peterson](https://opensource.com/sites/default/files/styles/profile_pictures/public/pictures/cp2016_crop2_185.jpg?itok=vUkSjFig)][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] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- via: https://opensource.com/article/18/2/coining-term-open-source-software 作者：[ Christine Peterson][a] 译者：[fuzheng1998](https://github.com/fuzheng1998) 校对：[校对者ID](https://github.com/校对者ID) 本文由 [LCTT](https://github.com/LCTT/TranslateProject) 原创编译，[Linux中国](https://linux.cn/) 荣誉推出 [a]:https://opensource.com/users/christine-peterson [1]:https://opensource.com/article/18/2/coining-term-open-source-software?rate=HFz31Mwyy6f09l9uhm5T_OFJEmUuAwpI61FY-fSo3Gc [2]:http://intelligence.org/ [3]:https://opensource.com/users/christine-peterson [4]:https://opensource.com/users/christine-peterson [5]:https://opensource.com/user/206091/feed [6]:https://opensource.com/resources/what-open-source [7]:https://opensource.org/osd [8]:https://wiki2.org/en/Alternative_terms_for_free_software [9]:https://opensource.org/ [10]:http://www.oreilly.com/pub/pr/636 [11]:http://www.oreilly.com/pub/pr/796 [12]:https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Alternative_terms_for_free_software.html [13]:https://opensource.com/users/christine-peterson [14]:https://opensource.com/users/christine-peterson [15]:https://opensource.com/users/christine-peterson [16]:https://opensource.com/article/18/2/coining-term-open-source-software#comments