Open Source Initiative (OSI) was founded by Eric Raymond and Bruce Perens in the late February 1998. It was initiated with Raymond as its first president, Perens as Vice-President and with initial Board of Directors including Brian Behlendorf, Russ Nelson, Ian Murdock, and Chip Salzenberg. It was formed as an educational, stewardship, advocacy organization and also decided to focus on protecting and explaining the “open source” label.
