Here are some of my thoughts on the open source hardware movement and industry. This is not to say that we are only concerned with industry here, but more that we saw a lot of struggling over the years on how open source software could be beneficial to business and industry.

Open Source Hardware and Industry
Dan Goldwater, Squid Labs LLC

I believe that the most effective way to propagate socially progressive change is to show that it is beneficial to as many parties as possible – individuals, governments, small and large industry. As we have seen from the open source software movement, tremendous and clear benefits exist for individuals, small businesses and developing nations [1] [2]. On the other hand the benefits for large established industry and for building new industry around the movement were less clear and took some time to establish. This article seeks to shed some light on the beginning of an open source hardware movement and how it can benefit industry. Many unanswered questions still exist, but we should keep in mind that fundamentally hardware must be manufactured and this inherently provides more commercial potential than software.

To avoid confusion, we should note that the term “open source hardware” has been used by others to describe specific types of electrical hardware. We use the term in an inclusive way which refers any and all physical objects, and includes what is sometimes called “open design”.

Open source software has had a major impact on industry worldwide. Over the past 10 years it has grown from a fringe idea to a major component of the software industry. Organizations of all kinds are adopting open source software for critical business needs and using it to power mission-critical projects [3]. In a survey of 50 $1B+ North American companies, at least 70% reported use of open source software [4]. 8 of the 25 largest software manufacturers engage in major open source software activities [5].

As the impact of open source software has increased, there has been considerable analysis of the open source software phenomenon. How can ad-hoc, distributed groups of unpaid developers produce software which competes successfully with that from the largest software manufacturers in the world? There are many well thought opinions on this matter, yet considerable controversy remains. Much has still been learned: the development of open source software has produced not only the software itself, but has also improved the means of its own development with both innovative new tools and innovative new methodologies. While surveyed corporations have given a wide variety of reasons why they selected open source software for any given application [6], it is clear that open source software is capable of outperforming proprietary software on many common selection metrics [7]. In addition, many analysts believe the benefits of open source software to industry go well beyond the selection criteria for a single software product. Employees who participate in open source projects bring back best-of-breed approaches to the corporation at large [8]. The innovative development tools and methodologies that began in the open source community are now commonly used in many industries. Most importantly, it is often observed that open source is increasing the rate of innovation where it is used [9] [10] [11] [12] [13].

“Open source brings about the reorganization of millions of software developers into global collaborative communities, amassing a strength orders of magnitude greater than what is possible in the proprietary software realm” [14]

“Open source is the ultimate global reuse library” [15]

At Squid Labs, we have seen the increased rate of innovation and the benefits to industry first hand; as software engineers we have successfully used and contributed to open source software. As electrical and mechanical engineers we believe that proven open source methods can and should be brought to the realm of electrical, mechanical and other hardware and that the benefits to manufacturing and industry in innovation, performance, cost, reliability, as well as other less tangible areas will be significant. Furthermore, hardware unlike software must be manufactured. By taking the initiative in open source hardware development, manufacturers will be in the leadership position to produce new hardware developed under an open source model. We also believe it is likely that significant open source hardware development will support new business models in rapid prototyping and manufacturing services.

Why has this revolution in hardware development not happened already the way it did with open source software? We believe that the enabling technologies are a significant factor. The Internet is commonly identified as the enabling technology for open source [16] [17]. However, other key technologies such as a common open source development platform and collaboration tools have also played an important role, and we cannot underestimate the need for a supporting community. Open source is not a viable strategy until a sufficient developer community exists around it such that any individual developer can take advantage of a vastly greater resource than they could themselves produce. Because all these enablers are built with and upon the others, the incubation period for open source software spanned 10-20 years. Our goal is to dramatically reduce the incubation period for open source hardware by identifying and constructing the key enabling technologies now. We will accomplish this goal by combining proven methods from the successful example of open source software with our significant expertise in electrical and mechanical device development. At Squid Labs we have often struggled with the difficulties of sharing and collaborating on hardware projects with remote colleagues using different proprietary development software, different proprietary manufacturing software, different proprietary collaboration software. As has been famously said – “Every good work of software starts by scratching a developer’s personal itch.” [18]

We have already begun: Our website Instructables is the beginning of a system and set of tools which will enable and support the growth of open source hardware and its development.

References cited

[1] BBC News, “Brazil adopts open-source software”, June 2 2005, Steve Kingstone. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4602325.stm

[2] United Nations University, “Free software in developing countries vital to future prosperity, good governance: UNU”, March 8 2006. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-03/unu-fsi030806.php

[3] Computer Sciences Corporation, “Open Source: Open for Business”, 2004. pp. 2, 23. 2004. http://www.csc.com/features/2004/uploads/LEF_OPENSOURCE.pdf

[4] Forester Research Inc. “Your Open Source Strategy”, September 2003

[5] Berlecon Research GmbH, “FLOSS Final Report – Part 2”, July 2002, pp 11. http://www.berlecon.de/studien/downloads/200207FLOSS_Activities.pdf

[6] Berlecon Research GmbH, “FLOSS Final Report – Part 1”, July 2002, pp 33-54. http://www.berlecon.de/studien/downloads/200207FLOSS_Use.pdf

[7] David A. Wheeler, “Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS)? Look at the Numbers!”, 2004. http://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html

[8] Computer Sciences Corporation, “Open Source: Open for Business”, 2004. pp. 10. 2004

[9] David A. Wheeler, “Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS)? Look at the Numbers!”, 2004. section 8.5.

[10] John D. Wolpert, “Breaking Out of the Innovation Box”, Harvard Business Review, August 2002, p.4 (reprint).

[11] Computer Sciences Corporation, “Open Source: Open for Business”, 2004. pp. 22, 44, 49. 2004

[12] Michael A. Olson, “A business case for open source”, May 2002. http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2865356,00.html

[13] Tim O’Reilly, O’Reilly Media. “Ask Tim”, August 2003. http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/ask_tim/2003/compadv_0803.html

[14] Computer Sciences Corporation, “Open Source: Open for Business”, 2004. pp. 2. 2004.

[15] Computer Sciences Corporation, “Open Source: Open for Business”, 2004. pp. 18. 2004.

[16] Minoru Development Corporation, “Open source goes mainstream”. http://www.minoru-development.com/en/opensource.html

[17] Computer Sciences Corporation, “Open Source: Open for Business”, 2004. pp. 3. 2004.

[18] Eric S. Raymond, “The Cathedral and the Bazaar”, v3.0 section 2. 2000. http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/ar01s02.html