A waterfall or cascade, particularly in Northern England and Scotland. Also used as an acronym for Free and Open Source Software.
From Old Norse 'fors' meaning waterfall or cascade, brought to English through Viking settlements in northern Britain. The computing acronym FOSS emerged in the 1990s as the open-source movement gained prominence.
It's remarkable how this ancient Norse word for waterfalls has found new life in the digital age as an acronym for software freedom. The metaphor is actually quite apt - both represent something flowing freely without barriers or ownership restrictions.
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