
ALT A page of a book that references February 3 as the date “open source software” was termed. The complete text of the page is this: The group supported her suggestion and called Linus Torvalds who liked the name too. On February 3, 1998, the term "open source software" ' was made official. The introduction of the term "open source software" was 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. The problem with the main earlier label, "free software," was not its political connotations, but that-to newcomers -its seeming focus on price is distracting. A term was needed that focuses on the key issue of source code and that does not immediately confuse those new to the concept. -Christine Peterson, "How I coined the term 'open source'"















