Usual pattern, point out a company is not actually Open Source when they claim to be and they say, “so what who cares, profits, happy customers, fine line, complicated world, proprietary is better yada yada”.
Either you are Open Source or you are not, there is not really a blurry line. None of your current designs are Open Source, and you explain exactly why not, yet your webpage is tagged “Open Source designs”. The fact you start name-calling using the word zealots when people ask for simple transparency just shows you actually don’t care about the principles of Open Source, but you are happy to use it for free R&D and it’s good name to make money. “Open Source company” (hipster trendy) is a better marketing line than “just another proprietary outfit” (old guys with suits).
So how about a bit of plain honesty, Kickstarter guys? If companies don’t want to be Open Source, fine, just say so. But don’t make the promise and pull back when the Kickstarter funds have cleared.
I can see how regular business people want to infiltrate Open Source, dilute it of meaning and then kill it. Businesses like yours are based on the traditional model of owning exclusive rights to IP, so naturally they would be opposed to Open Source as it threatens their business model.
I guess you are right most customers don’t care about principles they just want cheap stuff, and it’s easy to exploit that apathy.
There are companies committed to staying Open Source, and believe it matters. You do not appear to be one of them.
I think that “open source software” and “open source hardware” are two very different things, and that open source hardware is in its infancy. I am highly skeptical that an open source hardware company can grow beyond a relatively small size. Once a certain size and market penetration is reached, it is too easy for another company to come in and produce clones, without contributing anything.
These same dynamics are not really present in open source software. OSS companies don’t sell products, they sell services/support/knowledge, and this is much harder to copy. Also, software is much easier for a large audience to contribute to and benefit from having access to the source. Having Marlin being open source is far more valuable to the community than having the design files for the E3D hotend available. Free copyright licenses provide a legally backed mechanism to keep the software open, so that we can all benefit from improvements made by others.
I’m coming late to the reprap community, but I think that keeping the software open source (and really GPL) is far more important than design files for the physical components of printers and parts being published. Of what value would @Brook_Drumm sheet metal design files be to the larger community? I can’t do anything with them, and neither can most people, but they would enable knock-off copies. Most interesting concepts about the metal simple printrbot can be learned by examining one - you can take it apart and see how it works. We can learn a lot from PrintrBot without cad files being published. I think PrintrBot sharing their auto-leveling code in Marlin is much more interesting and valuable to the community than cad files. Similarly, I think that @Ultimaker sponsoring Cura development is much more important than them releasing cad files for their printers.
I’m always impressed by companies that do release their design files, but I don’t think that it is sustainable. I don’t see anything “evil” about a company that makes ‘closed’ hardware, but uses and supports open source software.
I hope that as other 3d printer companies grow and face these challenges they choose a different route than Makerbot. Imagine if Makerbot had kept there firmware and host software open source?
Man, some people would complain if the Sun came up in the morning. If you don’t like a company, don’t support them, but don’t be surprised when there’s a three deep line of folks with cash in hand buying the product. It’s Mac v PC, iPhone v. Android writ small.
This is a tiny hobby, there’s plenty of room for all kinds. If you, @bob_cousins actually have the nerve to call out @Brook_Drumm , I’d claim you need to put your money where your mouth is and contribute a tenth back to the community that he has.
If you’re not, and you’re talking about Makerbot, then you need to be clearer.
As far as ‘regular business people’ are concerned, this is a SERIOUS bubble that’s going to leave a LOT of them flipping burgers and vending coffee, so what’s your gripe?
