[Discuss] the significance of oshw

[Matt Maier]

"How much would a prostetic hand cost?"
"10,000 dollars."
"How much did your own design cost?"
"I dunno, like, ten bucks."

http://olimex.wordpress.com/2013/11/06/open-source-hardware-allow-casual-people-to-make-innovations/

This is the kind of improvement that's possible in technology when you
don't keep secrets. 3D printers have been around for decades, which means a
simple, writs-activated prosthetic hand could have been manufactured on 3D
printers and sold for $50 a long time ago. But nobody did that because it
was more profitable to just keep everything a secret and make people pay
through the nose for a proprietary solution.

Open hardware allows the actual lowest-cost solution to be widely shared.
It means that the people who actually NEED the lowest-cost solutions can
just provide for themselves instead of waiting for the market to maybe
deliver it, eventually...for a price that takes advantage of their need.

All of those zeros in the price of commercial prosthetic hands have nothing
to do with the inherent technology. They're a reflection of how much people
are willing to pay when they need a new hand. Open hardware removes those
zeros, reduces prices by orders of magnitude, simply by negating the price
that can be charged for secrets.


On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 1:08 PM, Catarina Mota <catarinamfmota at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I've been thinking about the real significance of open source hardware. We
> spend a lot time discussing how to do OSHW right. We usually explain its
> advantages by saying that it allows people to copy, modify, and transform
> hardware, which leads to faster development and better technologies. But I
> think there is more to it than that. In some recent conversations, a few
> people mentioned the sense of empowerment and liberation that comes from
> creating and modifying technologies, which makes me think that there are
> deeper cultural implications here.
>
> So I was thinking that it would be nice to compile a series of
> testimonials about what people perceive as the personal, practical,
> political, cultural, social or economic advantages and disadvantages of
> open source hardware.
>
> If OSHWA agrees, we can create a page for these testimonials/opinions on
> oshwa.org. Or, if for any reason, that is problematic, I can find another
> place to publish them. I just think that it's important to put a more human
> face on our outreach efforts (rather than just publishing technical and
> legal information).
>
> Does anyone want to contribute? There's no structure, just whatever you
> want to say about this topic. If you post your opinions on this list I can
> collect, compile and publish them (on oshwa.org or somewhere else).
> Hopefully this can also trigger an interesting discussion :)
>
> Cheers,
> Catarina
>
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>
>
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