Short answers, pulled from the story.
Rice University launched OpenStax in 2012 with a clear directive to lower the financial burden of higher education. The initiative began by producing peer-reviewed textbooks available under Creative Commons licenses.
The first release was College Physics, which appeared online and in print that same year. This book also became available on Amazon Kindle and the iBooks Store shortly after its initial launch.
Calculus remained an exception to this rule because it used a different license type called CC BY-NC-SA. All other titles followed the standard CC BY license structure established at the start.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided early financial support to help the new nonprofit get started. Additional backing came from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Michelson 20 Million Minds Foundation.
No specific reason was given for ending the adaptive courseware initiative. The decision marked a shift away from developing new software tools toward core publishing activities.
Seven million students across 150 countries used OpenStax materials as of January 2024. Since its inception in 2012, the initiative has saved $2.9 billion in education costs.