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:

    “Speech and silence. We feel safer with a madman who talks than with one who cannot open his mouth.”
    —E.M. Cioran (b. 1911)

    “In the end we beat them with Levi 501 jeans. Seventy-two years of Communist indoctrination and propaganda was drowned out by a three-ounce Sony Walkman. A huge totalitarian system ... has been brought to its knees because nobody wants to wear Bulgarian shoes.... Now they’re lunch, and we’re number one on the planet.”
    —P.J. (Patrick Jake)