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:

    “Is encouragement what the poet needs? Open question. Maybe he needs discouragement. In fact, quite a few of them need more discouragement, the most discouragement possible.”
    —Robert Fitzgerald (1910–1985)

    “There are obvious places in which government can narrow the chasm between haves and have-nots. One is the public schools, which have been seen as the great leveler, the authentic melting pot. That, today, is nonsense. In his scathing study of the nation’s public school system entitled “Savage Inequalities,” Jonathan Kozol made manifest the truth: that we have a system that discriminates against the poor in everything from class size to curriculum.”
    —Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)