Re: open-source vs. open source

["Janet Swisher" <jmswisher -at- gmail -dot- com>]

On Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 7:11 AM, Michael West <mbwest -at- bigpond -dot- com> wrote:
>
>> If the door is "open," then it is an "open door" and that door does not
>> somehow become different and become an "open-door," except in an
> "open-door"
>> policy.  In this case "open-door" is a modifier to policy.  By comparison,
>> "open-source" would be a modifier to code, which it is not.  "Open" refers
>> to the source and not to the code.  So it is "open source code," but the
>> code can be the same type of code used in closed source applications.
>> "Closed source" means that the public does not have access to the source,
>> like in open source applications.
>
> This is incorrect. In "open-source code", it is that source that is open. In
> "open source code" it is the source code that is open.

I don't see a semantic difference there.

"Open source" has become a set noun phrase that can be applied as an
attributive modifier to many things:

open source software
open source development
open source initiative
open source license
open source hardware (where the design of the hardware is freely available)

> In "open-door policy" it is the door that is open. In "open door policy" it
> is the door policy that is open.
>

One of the purposes of hyphenating compounds is to avoid ambiguity, as
in "open door policy" or "fast sailing ship". Maybe it's just me, but
I don't see potential ambiguity in the phrases above involving "open
source".


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