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Subject: Re: [geda-user] Interesting blog post from a commercial EDA vendor
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From: "Markus Hitter (mah AT jump-ing DOT de) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com]" <geda-user AT delorie DOT com>
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Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2015 17:18:13 +0200
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Am 04.09.2015 um 16:05 schrieb John Griessen:
> You should not give up on the open
> hardware concept Markus -- there are success
> stories different than makerbot.

I'm not aware of one. Not even Arduino. The Arduino folks put tremendous
efforts into coming along with an easy to use package, but wherever you
look, people buy cheap clones.

It simply can't work at a reasonably large scale. As soon as something
is moderately successful "the chinese" come along and make cheaper
clones. They can, because they have zero development costs. They don't
even have the risk of failure, because the original tested and built up
the market already.

The only way to survive with Open Source hardware is to stay below the
chinese radar. That's what I'm currently doing. Like almost everybody
else I open source only for marketing reasons. Former designs were made
with collaboration and easy replication in mind, it was a nightmare.
Flaming from all sides, including OSHW addicts.

Open Source software is successful because it comes with collaboration.
One puts in 100 hours of work for free and gets back 1000, also free.
Forks are known to fail sooner or later, because they cut off the back
channel. With software the concept of Open Source is healthy.


> Once profit has paid back for trade secret designs, and they get stale,
> and new designs are available, the trade secrets
> get the open license also, and other new parts are kept back as trade
> secrets.  That is a picture of further evolution than "break out boards"
> for open hardware products.  I think it can work.

You mean Open Source hardware as flea market for outdated hardware? :-)


Markus

-- 
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Dipl. Ing. (FH) Markus Hitter
http://www.jump-ing.de/