Slashdot Mirror
Open Source Hardware Gets Public Introduction
JoeBorn writes "The Sunday New York Times has an article on Neuros video recorder and describes the benefits of open source hardware to its mainstream readership. Can a mainstream audience appreciate that hackability can translate into new features or will it all just seem too geeky? In this case, the Neuros OSD got a YouTube browser. While the details might be lost on the average reader, are they getting the sense that some companies allow users to benefit from other users modifications while others are actively bricking products for applying 3rd party apps? In other words, is openness starting to add value to the brands that support it?"
Don't forget that most open source software comes with big warnings that there are absolutely no warranties. Do most consumers really expect the same from their hardware? While open hardware sounds great for me personally and probably much of the Slashdot crowd, the companies behind it need to have a very different focus than normal mass-market hardware. That is, they either need to choose to offer zero warranties on damage resulting from a user's actions, OR they can put a lot of effort into supporting and encouraging developers (which is what my company chooses to do). I'm not sure if we're ready to have mass-market expectations and developer-friendly devices meet.
Side note: I'm excited about openmoko, the open hardware (and open source software) cell phone. Waiting for the second revision, which will include 802.11.
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Aren't the benefits of open source, or, generally, hackable hardware very simple to explain?
If there is any bug, or desireable feature that is missing, or really any kind of improvement to be made, it can be made by anyone. This includes you, but you don't have to do it yourself - chances are there is somebody who wants the same improvement and will make it and share it with the world. Sure, companies will also enhance closed-source products, but now it's not just the company that does this, but a large group of volunteers, as well. This means that improvements can be expected to be made much more quickly and in many more directions at once. Plus, if the company ever stops supporting the product, the community will continue supporting it until the last person has lost interest.
There. Was that so difficult?
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
The iPhone/Apple dig had nothing to do with the article and was normal slashdot FUD.
Why does everyone keep going after Apple for possible bricking of iPhones? You're applying 3rd party hacks which mess with the firmware, bricking is a possibility. No one has gone after Linksys for a bricked router after trying to apply 3rd party firmware.
Apple ships the iPhone with firmware:
#AAAAAAAAAAAA
Some 3rd party comes along and hacks that firmware to do nifty stuff, even if it is a hack. Firmware is now. #AAAAFFFFFFFF
Apple decides to update all the firmware in their iPhones to
#BBBBBBBBBBBA
However since you applied your hack, you now have firmware:
#BBBBBBBBBBBF
Which could very well possibly brick the iPhone. Apple doesn't have the resources to test with every single firmware hack out there. They test their firmware with what they shipped, if nothing bad happens it gets pushed as an update. If I secretly swap a Ford engine into my GM engine and take it back to the dealer, they're not going to fix it no problem.
If you don't want the iPhone and Apple's product model, get an open source phone. Get another brand. Apple makes stable platforms for people who sometimes don't want to tinker. Things may be tinker friendly, but if you fuck something up don't go suing or crying to Apple.
I got into an argument at work about living in one of the more socialist countries (Full healthcare, full welfare, full retirement, etc) and then I bring up income tax (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Income_Taxes_By_Country.svg) and they start bitching about how much the USA already takes, who in their right mind would let someone take MORE.
There are trade-offs to every single thing in the world. Make up your fucking mind and take the good with the bad. No, you're not entitled and no you can't have everything the way you like it.
Get over it.
Free and open source software are great. I can get the source code, study it, modify it, and recompile and install it if I like. Cool.
On the box I'm typing this on, I have access to a lot of high-quality development software for the work of installing it, which isn't much. It's easy to set up a world-class development environment (particularly with the neat new big screen my wife gave me for Christmas). I paid less than a thousand dollars for the computer, and everything's cool.
So what am I supposed to do with open source hardware? I have few skills for working with hardware, not many tools, and everything costs money. Tools cost money. Sensors cost money. Parts cost money. Developing the skills costs money (either for formal instruction or to replace stuff I break). It's much more of a commitment.
Now, suppose I come up with a neat new software hack. I can distribute it freely, and people can use it easily. Suppose I come up with a neat new hardware hack. I can distribute the plans freely, but the only people who can use it have the skills, have the tools, are willing to spend money for the parts, and are willing to live with the risk of breaking something that can't just be rmed and replaced.
I like the idea of freedom of information, but there's a very large difference here between hardware and software.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
The people hacking their iPhones are not the people Apple wants as customers anyway. The target demographic for the iPhone is not the Slashdot crowd. I was in an Apple store over the holidays and there was some guy in there with his 13 or so year old daughter. He was going to get her an iPhone. (Aside from wtf buys a 13 year old a phone like that, etc). She didn't care that it didn't run Wiki or what ever 3rd party apps were available. She wanted an iPhone. She wanted it to just work(tm). If Apple bricked her phone I know that her dad would have been up in arms.
Slashdotters and hackers saw a nifty piece of hardware and decided that they were entitled to doing stuff to it and got up in arms when Apple fixed security holes, etc.
Isn't that already the case? Most warranties cover only manufacturing defects, and only for a limited period of time. Damage that results from a user's actions - whether it be hacking it to add functionality, or simply spilling a coffee on it - are generally not covered. The trick is determining whether it was the user's actions that caused the hardware to fail, or a defect in the hardware itself.
This is where buyers need to protect themselves by researching the experience of others when dealing with a given company over warranty issues, and factor that in to their purchasing decision. If a company looks for any excuse to deny warranty coverage, it should be avoided. Too many people only consider the cost at the till, and ignore the TCO including the level of after sale support.
I don't care why you're posting AC