Unlike other free and open-source organizations, it does not develop software, which means that volunteer efforts have been directed elsewhere.

The motivation for adopting a membership-based structure is to obtain greater financial resources, enabling full-time positions to increase the organization's effectiveness.

[1][7] In March 2021, the OSI organization held a vote for executive director among its members, but the results were annulled because the election was hacked.

[10][11] Providing access to the source code is not enough for software to be considered "open-source": it must also allow modification and redistribution under the same terms and all uses, including commercial use.

Maffulli said a new definition was necessary because artificial intelligence "is different from regular software and forces all stakeholders to review how the Open Source principles apply to this space".

OpenUK CEO Amanda Brock said it was a mistake as the market will shift and change, noting that it undermines longevity by creating confusion and dispersing resources.

[19][20] As a campaign of sorts, "open source" was launched in 1998 by Christine Peterson, Jon "maddog" Hall, Larry Augustin, Eric S. Raymond, Bruce Perens, and others.

The OSI initiated an Affiliate Membership program for "government-recognized non-profit charitable and not-for-profit industry associations and academic institutions anywhere in the world".

[25] Subsequently, the OSI announced an Individual Membership program[26] and listed a number of Corporate Sponsors.

"This week we found a vulnerability in our voting processes that was exploited and had an impact on the outcome of the recent Board Election.

In October 2009, the OSI lost its corporate status, having been suspended by the state of California for failing to submit paperwork on time.