I take stock of the state of play of Open Source Hardware (OSH) from a variety of perspectives: What does the current OSH landscape look like? What are the basic legal aspects of OSH (protection vs. “licensing”)? What are the dimensions of OSH practices? Then I shall highlight the important challenges and opportunities that OSH is confronted with currently and the developments that are needed to turn OSH into a long-term success. Presentation given at thingscon, Berlin, 3 May 2014 (http://thingscon.com); @thingscon

1. Peter
Troxler
trox@fabfolk.com
@trox
State
of
Play
in
OSH

2. Open
Source
Appears
in
HW
• TAPR
radio
amateur
community
(1993)
• Open
Collector
(2000)
• Open
Hardware
project
(2002)
• Open
Source
Hardware
and
Design
Alliance
(2009)
• Open
Source
Hardware
User
Group
(2010)
• Open
Hardware
definiMon
at
Freedom
Defined
(2010)
• Open
Source
Hardware
Logo
(2011)
• Open
Hardware
AssociaMon
(2012)
• Open
Design
working
group
of
the
Open
Knowledge
FoundaMon
(2012)
State
of
Play
in
OSH
–
thingscon
2014
Berlin,
3
May
2014
–
2

3. Open
Source
Appears
in
HW
19th
century
Knowledge
sharing
among
innovators
in
the
past
was
not
extremely
rare
nor
was
it
a
marginal
ac6vity.
(…)
Key
technologies
at
the
heart
of
industrializa6on,
such
as
high-­‐pressure
steam
engines,
iron
and
steel
produc6on
techniques,
steamboats,
tex6le
machinery,
airplanes,
etc.,
were,
at
6mes
and
places,
developed
through
processes
of
collec6ve
inven6on.
In
some
cases...aggressive
paten6ng
put
an
end
to
a
period
of
extensive
knowledge
sharing.
Bessen,
James
E.
and
Nuvolari,
Alessandro
(2012).
Knowledge
Sharing
Among
Inventors:
Some
Historical
PerspecMves.
In:
Dietmar
Harhoff
and
Karim
Lakhani
eds.,
RevoluMonizing
InnovaMon:
Users,
CommuniMes
and
Open
InnovaMon.
Working
paper,
available
at
h`p://www.bu.edu/law/faculty/scholarship/workingpapers/documents/BessenJ-­‐
NuvolariA101411fin.pdf
State
of
Play
in
OSH
–
thingscon
2014
Berlin,
3
May
2014
–
3

4. …
OS
HWA
♘
Legal
State
of
Play
in
OSH
–
thingscon
2014
Berlin,
3
May
2014
–
4
66
75
63
6b
20
63
6f
70
79
72
69
67
68
74
20
21
©
§
§
¶
cc
cc
+
waiver
GPL
66
75
63
6b
20
63
6f
70
79
72
69
67
68
74
20
21
CERN
OHL

5. …
OS
HWA
Legal
State
of
Play
in
OSH
–
thingscon
2014
Berlin,
3
May
2014
–
5
©
§
§
¶
cc
cc
+
waiver
GPL
CERN
OHL
ACTA
TRIPS
FTAs
…
☯

6. Prac<cal
State
of
Play
in
OSH
–
thingscon
2014
Berlin,
3
May
2014
–
6
open
access
open
contribuMon
closed
N=1
N>250
∆t
=
10y

7. PracMcal
State
of
Play
in
OSH
–
thingscon
2014
Berlin,
3
May
2014
–
7
@Dreamups
@knowableorg

8. Prac<cal
Heartbleed
–
a
failure
of
Open
Source?
OpenSSL,
a
project
that
runs
on
66%
of
all
web
servers,
has
just
one
full-­‐6me
employee.
One.
Mashable
(ChrisMna
Warren,
15-­‐4-­‐2014)
State
of
Play
in
OSH
–
thingscon
2014
Berlin,
3
May
2014
–
8

9. Business
State
of
Play
in
OSH
–
thingscon
2014
Berlin,
3
May
2014
–
9
66
75
63
6b
20
63
6f
70
79
72
69
67
68
74
20
21

10. Business
3DRoboMcs
DIYDrones
The
Open
Source
DIYDrones
project
Mission
Planner
applica6on
includes
a
closed
source
binary
for
pushing
the
OTP
onto
the
hardware.
Only
privileged
vendors
are
given
the
ability
to
obtain
a
*vaild*
OTP
cer6ficate.
OTP
=
one
Mme
programmable
register
reason
given:
cerMficate-­‐of-­‐authenMcity,
required
for
FAA
(federal
aviaMon
authority)
cerMficaMon
State
of
Play
in
OSH
–
thingscon
2014
Berlin,
3
May
2014
–
10

11. Business
For
example:
Mathilde
Berchon
(makingsociety.org):
From
Idea
to
Product:
10
Steps
For
CreaMng
a
Hardware
Company
1. The
Idea
2. The
Proof
of
Concept
3. FuncMonal
Prototype
4. Design
for
Manufacturing
&
Assembly
5. Funding
6. CerMficaMon
7. Manufacturing
8. Assembling
9. TesMng
10. Shipping
h`p://makingsociety.com/2013/05/10-­‐steps-­‐for-­‐creaMng-­‐a-­‐hardware-­‐company/
State
of
Play
in
OSH
–
thingscon
2014
Berlin,
3
May
2014
–
11

12. Business
State
of
Play
in
OSH
–
thingscon
2014
Berlin,
3
May
2014
–
12
empathy
define
ideate
prototype
test
learn
about
the
audience
you
are
designing
for
redefine
your
quesMon,
focus
on
the
insights
from
the
empathy
stage
brainstorming
etc.
⟶
creaMve
soluMons
a
representaMon
to
show
to
others
with
original
user
group

13. Business
State
of
Play
in
OSH
–
thingscon
2014
Berlin,
3
May
2014
–
13
people
technology
business

14. Against
All
Odds
State
of
Play
in
OSH
–
thingscon
2014
Berlin,
3
May
2014
–
14
societal
values
• literacy
• peace
• equality
• …
convenMonal
goods
and
services
⚕
⚖
⚚

15. Against
All
Odds
State
of
Play
in
OSH
–
thingscon
2014
Berlin,
3
May
2014
–
15
societal
and
private
values
• literacy
• peace
• equality
• …
convenMonal
goods
and
services
⚕
⚖
⚚

16. Against
All
Odds
State
of
Play
in
OSH
–
thingscon
2014
Berlin,
3
May
2014
–
16
societal
and
private
values
• literacy
• peace
• equality
• …
convenMonal
goods
and
services
⚕
⚖
⚚
♘
66
75
63
6b
20
63
6f
70
79
72
69
67
68
74
20
21
©
§
¶
cc
+
waiver
GPL

17. Against
All
Odds
State
of
Play
in
OSH
–
thingscon
2014
Berlin,
3
May
2014
–
17
societal
and
private
values
• literacy
• peace
• equality
• …
convenMonal
goods
and
services
⚕
⚖
⚚
♘
66
75
63
6b
20
63
6f
70
79
72
69
67
68
74
20
21
©
§ ¶
cc
+
waiver
GPL

18. Peter
Troxler
trox@fabfolk.com
@trox