Open Source Dead Gadgets and Toys

By Jake • April 29th, 2011 • 4 Comments

Reading the title of this post, I immediately thought of software, but it turns out this post is about open the source of deceased gadgets.

I suppose the fact that it came from Make should have been a clue.

Anyway, given the rise of the internet of things, Arduino and the use of Linux variants to run all kinds of gadgets, this makes a ton of sense.

Consumer products that have been discontinued have no further use to their manufactures aside from support headaches.

So, why not let modders and makers have a go at sustaining their favorite toys and gadgets for a while?

I’m sure the results would be interesting at the very least.

http://twitter.com/syd_oracle Gary Myers

The problem is a lot of those machines (‘hard’ or ‘soft’) will have components that either get directly re-used in later machines or carry the same fundamental IP for future components. Where’s the value in having your engineers and lawyers going over pieces of redundant kit to decide what is and isn’t valuable to you.
http://www.garry.to joel garry

Gary got it in 1. The idea of patenting is to be able to protect published IP, but the reality is so much IP is trade secret, with a complex surface between patents and trade secrets in any given product, expensive to explicate. Once you open source, you risk giving up a lot, and you can’t predict the future value. There are entire companies that do nothing but buy iffy IP and try to enforce the rights. Check this out: http://www.rpxcorp.com/siteFiles/News/337E5081A595F543D4F056842277A4DA.pdf Not only that, but opening up may allow people to notice where you done wrong, like all those SCO trolls http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/06/11/sconovell-suit-is-over-sco-loses/
http://theappslab.com Jake

I get that, but after a certain point, you wonder what harm it could do. Then again, as you say, it’s easier to camp out on patents.
http://theappslab.com Jake

A girl can dream.

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