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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">“.....Are you aware of any methods to
calculate absolute value in real economic terms? ” </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">Dear Joshua, this is something I have
been puzzling
over for many years, and it is difficult to resolve because that
value is
subjective.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">If I have a huge need to find
information, or hardware designs, or software, at a given moment
in
time, then at that particular moment, the value to me of my
required
object or information is directly proportional to my need. It
could
be astronomical, or not much.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">For example if in my village with very
limited means has 20 people die per month from drinking polluted
water, if
I can (easily) find a proven, trustworthy open hardware device
that
solves the problem, physically producing that device is within my
means and there is support available from the open hardware
community, its value is extremely high, much higher than the cost
to
the inventor of developing and placing that device in the open
realm.
Yes, in making it open the inventor loses the capacity to
exclusively
comercialise the product, but receives invaluable feedback from
the
community, and is as free as anyone else to make money from
building
and installing the product using the extra edge their specialist
knowledge gives them, plus that
highly valuable feedback. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">The costs of inventing, developing and
documenting a device are defined by the nature of the object in
question, R+D, materials and labour costs. Up to this point things
are the same for both a commercial or an open product.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">For a commercial product, once put
into
production its value is calculable at any given moment and depends
on
demand and supply. Its value is not fixed, it will rise and fall.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">By placing a device in the “open”
world, it now exists beyond the realm of competition, but not
entirely, there is an overlap, participants can still sell the
devices they get from the community if they wish and compete with
closed products, so it will still have a commercial value but that
will have been altered by the fact that it is open hardware.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">By placing a good in the open realm,
we
remove all development costs and barriers to production for
everybody
else, the value of this is huge, we are enabling people by giving
them everything they need (less tools and labour) to produce a
good,
so there is this added value coming from the act of sharing and
participating in a sharing community, and of
course there is also the value of the support available from
within
that community.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">The people who form sharing
communities
create value, just by participating and sharing, because they
exploit
the difference between the cost for the giver, and value
to the receiver at a given moment. How big this value actually is
depends entirely on
the players and their circumstances, but it is always a positive
value. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">Best wishes to all</p>
David Kelly<br>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">IDsolar <br>
contact: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:eforma@gmail.com">eforma@gmail.com</a><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br>
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