Re: [DIYbio] WG: Bio-Commons Whitepaper

On 08/13/2014 09:04 AM, Bryan Bishop wrote:
> Anything that was originally licensed as open source is still licensed as such.

Sure, but Makerbot, like many, is a case of a company dominated developer group.
Reprap seems to be going along OK. Makerbot is no longer a source of a ready to use
physical building block for further development, since it is partly closed license now,
so its a set back from the idea of "loads of collaboration with developments building in complexity".
Sparkfun and Adafruit pretty much define "open hardware" today -- that is to say, mostly break out boards
rather than complex machinery.

I was just pointing out that the field of
open hardware is maturing, that some of the promoters really don't expect a community
of any size to develop around their offerings -- one can infer that from the calculated structure
of their company style, product offerings, licenses. Initially publishing few details of a
planned "open hardware" product is the main clue to the style. The other is a forum or an e-list
announcement, then little traffic, so little community. I believe if a company makes small effort
to enlist participation, an imagined community does not virtualize, much less materialize.

Any plan to get more communities to form needs to consider license, compensation,
legal/patents, and practical collaboration. The smaller the technical hurdles, the
easier it is to get a community to coalesce, and some talking it up seems necessary.


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