Some of these names (like OpenVMS) are from before the term "open source software" was coined (which was in 1998). They refer instead to "open systems", meaning computer systems with published specifications, interoperable hardware, portable software, etc. -- things that might seem like obvious choices now, but were not in early business computing.
Yeah, OpenBSD predates “open source” by a few years and some people actually found the name weird at the time because there was such a strong association with “Open” being used to mean things like “controlled by an industry consortium rather than a single company”.
There was a joke in one of the BOFH episodes (Bastard Operator from Hell for those unfamiliar, look it up if you don't know it, it's worth it) that went like this:
"So I tell him, 'you can't port Debian to a car computer, it's not an open system' ha ha ha ha"
Even a heavily proprietary system like iOS is much more of an "open system" in this sense than old mainframes. It uses standard networking protocols, supports programming languages that have published specifications, third-party hardware exists ...
OpenAI was supposed to make AI R&D basically open for all, but they became closed after they realised how fucking good GPT can be. It's understandable tbh but sad.
Source is available to the public under their own custom licence, but you cannot use it commercially.
Server side is closed. So you just know there is no malware inside and you can propose a bugfix, that's not enough to be open source, yet they misleading call it that.
Then wait until you learn how Creative bought up OpenAL (the audio answer to OpenGL and having to work with multiple audio extensions), and made it closed source...
I'm pretty sure someone like my parents has no idea what that even means, though I guess many of these companies might just be targeting younger people more likely to know
OpenAI is used for two companies under one umbrella - OpenAI a non-profit and OpenAI a for profit companies. Basically OpenAI non-profit does research and published it publicly, then OpenAI for profit adds bells and whistles and sells it to recoup costs.
Reminds me of all those countries claiming to be democratic in their name like Democratic Republic of the Congo, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (aka North Korea), etc.