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<a href="http://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/document/show/gsoc_program/google/gsoc2013/about_page">Google Summer of Code</a> pays students to write code for open source projects. Thus increasing the pool of people introduced to open source while at the same time improving the health of open source.
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Android has helped to get open source operating systems into people's hands (and smart handhelds) globally.
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<a href="http://motorola-blog.blogspot.com/2013/10/goodbye-sticky-hello-ara.html">Project Ara</a> could similarly help propel the global reach of the open source hardware movement:
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<em>Project Ara is developing a free, open hardware platform for creating highly modular smartphones. We want to do for hardware what the Android platform has done for software: create a vibrant third-party developer ecosystem, lower the barriers to entry, increase the pace of innovation, and substantially compress development timelines.</em>
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Aside: the next logical progression could be a Motorola Summer of Hardware.
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How do you feel about this and who else do you see as a game changer for the rise of open source hardware?
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Marino Hernandez
<br />(just a founder of
<a href="http://www.marketply.org">Marketply</a>)
<br />203-429-4205
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