A Critical Look At Open Licensing For Hardware 123
Glyn Moody writes "At a recent Open Hardware Camp in London, it became clear that one of the main obstacles to applying open source principles to hardware was licensing. For example, should competing big companies be allowed to use their economies of scale to make and sell cheaper products based on open hardware designs developed by small start-ups without payment? There's also the problem that hacking designs for physical objects like open source cars may have safety implications, which raises questions about liability. So what's the best way to address these issues?"
Re:There is a tech industry in London/UK? (Score:3, Funny)
I object to that, sir - in the UK we have the finest stream contrivances money can buy. We've been building "railways" for a number of years and in London they even have horseless carriages! Simply spiffing. I'm typing this on one of our latest teletype machines, which is almost entirely automated. It only requires an office of 50 clerks or so to handle the Slashdot Javascript rendering. Actually, the clerks have something of an attitude time, insisting on collating and compiling the reports I requested on a "Just In Time" basis. I'm off to have a word with them now, toodle pip!
Re:Security implications? (Score:3, Funny)
I would love to mod my own car, but I haven't had mod points in ages.