The issue of Open Source vs. Proprietary systems has been been debated for at least the past two decades in the the context of Computer Software. In the time frame, quite a few enterprises have established empires by selling proprietary software. In contrast to this, many technological innovations in Computer Science and Information Technology have been facilitated by Open Source software platforms. Today, Open Source Software form the core of super mission critical systems at places such as the International Space Station, nuclear submarines and CERN's Large Hadron Collider.
http://www.comparebusinessproducts.com/fyi/50-places-linux-running-you-might-not-expect
The interesting thing to note here is that many of these software projects began not in well-funded laboratories at centers of technological excellence or in the guarded wall of enterprise research labs; but in garages and basements as spare-time projects.
Open (source) Hardware promises to be a collaborative platform which takes its cues from the software phenomena. Unlike the software, hardware can be anything tangible. Any electronics chip, a car, a bicycle or a chair. The idea of open-sourcing hardware is making it easy to replicate by others around the world. This could be the catalyst in social innovation for innovators who work in their own little garages on DIY projects. The idea of reusing the innovations from someone half way around the world is powerful.
In this link, Marcin Jakubowski talks about how Open Hardware can help farmers attain industrial level productivity:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/marcin_jakubowski.html
For innovations to be successful, it is important that they can be scaled and adapted to different geographies. The open hardware license allows innovators to create, re-use and improve on current innovations and hence - democratizing innovation. With the open hardware tools and the improvements in communication in the recent years (in the remotest parts of the world), innovators anywhere can design and create products that are comparable to the ones that are created by industrial units. Analogous to the case of software, we can expect some path-breaking advancements to happen in the garages and home workshops more than the ones happening in research laboratories operating on million dollar funds.
A few interesting projects that have come up from the Open Hardware movement are:
Open Hardware does seem to hold the potential for great innovations in design and in technology just as were observed in software. If this movement can gather the 'critical mass', it will be a remarkably revolutionizing in terms how technology and design can spread across regions and across areas of application. It would be interesting to watch out for this movement for a couple of years to see the impact of this movement to the social innovation space.
In the blog for next week , I will talk about one such innovation which is trying to make the water bodies around the world cleaner.
http://www.comparebusinessproducts.com/fyi/50-places-linux-running-you-might-not-expect
The interesting thing to note here is that many of these software projects began not in well-funded laboratories at centers of technological excellence or in the guarded wall of enterprise research labs; but in garages and basements as spare-time projects.
Open (source) Hardware promises to be a collaborative platform which takes its cues from the software phenomena. Unlike the software, hardware can be anything tangible. Any electronics chip, a car, a bicycle or a chair. The idea of open-sourcing hardware is making it easy to replicate by others around the world. This could be the catalyst in social innovation for innovators who work in their own little garages on DIY projects. The idea of reusing the innovations from someone half way around the world is powerful.
In this link, Marcin Jakubowski talks about how Open Hardware can help farmers attain industrial level productivity:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/marcin_jakubowski.html
For innovations to be successful, it is important that they can be scaled and adapted to different geographies. The open hardware license allows innovators to create, re-use and improve on current innovations and hence - democratizing innovation. With the open hardware tools and the improvements in communication in the recent years (in the remotest parts of the world), innovators anywhere can design and create products that are comparable to the ones that are created by industrial units. Analogous to the case of software, we can expect some path-breaking advancements to happen in the garages and home workshops more than the ones happening in research laboratories operating on million dollar funds.
A few interesting projects that have come up from the Open Hardware movement are:
- RepRap - A 3D printer platform
- Arduino - An open-source physical computing platform based on a simple I/O board and a development environment that implements the open source Processing / Wiring language.
Open Hardware does seem to hold the potential for great innovations in design and in technology just as were observed in software. If this movement can gather the 'critical mass', it will be a remarkably revolutionizing in terms how technology and design can spread across regions and across areas of application. It would be interesting to watch out for this movement for a couple of years to see the impact of this movement to the social innovation space.
In the blog for next week , I will talk about one such innovation which is trying to make the water bodies around the world cleaner.
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