Open System

Open system may refer to:

  • Open system (computing), one of a class of computers and associated software that provides some combination of interoperability, portability and open software standards, particularly Unix and Unix-like systems
  • Open system (systems theory), a system where matter or energy can flow into and/or out of the system, in contrast to a closed system, where energy can enter or leave but matter may not
  • Open system (control theory), a feedforward system that does not have any feedback loop to control its output in a control system
  • Open system, in management science a system that is capable of self-maintenance on the basis of throughput of resources from the environment
  • Open Systems Interconnection, an effort to standardize computer networking
  • Open and closed system in social science
  • Open system in thermodynamics or in physics
  • Open system of learning, where information is sourced from multiple sources
  • Open-system environment reference model, one of the first reference models for enterprise architecture
  • Open Systems Accounting Software, accounting and business software
  • Open Systems International, supplier of open automation solutions for utilities in the electric, oil & gas, transport, and water industries
  • Open Systems AG, a company headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland
  • Open Source Software system
  • Open Government system
  • Open publication system
  • Open Distribution system (Example: Peer-to-peer file sharing system)

Famous quotes containing the words open and/or system:

    “The secret point of money and power in America is neither the things that money can buy nor power for power’s sake ... but absolute personal freedom, mobility, privacy. It is the instinct which drove America to the Pacific, all through the nineteenth century, the desire to be able to find a restaurant open in case you want a sandwich, to be a free agent, live by one’s own rules.”
    —Joan Didion (b. 1934)

    “You and I ... are convinced of the fact that if our Government in Washington and in a majority of the States should revert to the control of those who frankly put property ahead of human beings instead of working for human beings under a system of government which recognizes property, the nation as a whole would again be in a bad situation.”
    —Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)