[Discuss] the significance of oshw

[Catarina Mota]

Thanks Matt, I added your comment to the
testimonials<http://www.oshwa.org/testimonials/>
.

Michael Shiloh, it would be awesome to hear your take on the educational
side.

Anyone else has testimonials about the significance of OSHW they'd like to
contribute?


On Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 11:58 AM, Matt Maier <blueback09 at gmail.com> wrote:

> "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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