OPEN SOURCE INITIATIVE (OSI) ANNOUNCES NEW AFFILIATE MEMBERS

(Palo Alto, California) The Open Source Initiative (www.opensource.org) is very pleased to announce two new organizations have joined the OSI as Affiliate Members: inBloom (www.inbloom.org) and Linuxfest Northwest (http://www.linuxfestnorthwest.org). The OSI Board of Directors offers a warm welcome to both!

With inBloom and Linuxfest Northwest joining as OSI Affiliates, our membership of non-profit organizations supporting our mission—to educate about and advocate for the benefits of Open Source, and to build bridges among different constituencies in the Open Source community—increases to thirty. OSI Affiliate Members help define the direction and development of, not only the organization itself, but the Open Source community as well. OSI Affiliates may serve on the OSI Board—contributing their unique perspectives, expertise and vision; create and participate in a variety of special-interest working groups—collaborating with other organizations for the mutual benefit of Open Source development, and; extend their own networks by partnering with other Affiliates—extending awareness of and participation in their own projects and communities.

inBloom is an independent nonprofit organization resulting from efforts within the education community beginning in 2011 to solve a common technology issue facing school districts: the inability of widely varied electronic instructional technology tools used in classrooms to work in coordination with (or “talk to”) one another. The inBloom community brings together data, applications, and people to create better opportunities for students and educators.

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LinuxFest Northwest provides a creative environment for the Open Source community to come together to share new, innovative ideas, and promote through educational activities Linux/Open Source software principles and technologies to the general public.

Bill Wright, Board Member of LinuxFest Northwest, noted, “As a nonprofit organization we feel a strong camaraderie with the OSI in mutually promoting our goal to facilitate a viable and effective Linux and Open Source community.”

This April 26th and 27th marks Linuxfest Northwest's 15th year anniversary to be celebrated during their annual conference in Bellingham, WA. Join the Linux and Open Source communities, along with Jon "Maddog" Hall, Monty Widenious, The EFF and ACLU, as well as the OSI team and many others for a weekend of collaboration, community and creation: see the Linuxfest Northwest website for more details (http://linuxfestnorthwest.org).

The OSI would like to thank both the community and leadership of inBloom and Linuxfest Northwest for their trust and participation. "The OSI vision of building bridges within the open source community is strengthened and advanced by these two additions," said OSI President Simon Phipps.

The OSI Affiliate Member program allows non-profit and not-for-profit organizations to become OSI members. Full details of OSI Affiliate Membership and the names of the Affiliate Members are now available on OSI's Affiliate Membership pages (www.opensource.org/affiliates) together with details for other non-profit and not-for profit organizations on how to join.