I think it really depends on which type of software and which part of quality you look at. The good open source software is mostly written at companies (like li

I think it really depends on which type of software and which part of quality you look at. The good open source software is mostly written at companies (like linux for example), but I guess having a few hobbyists and academics in there kind of helps. One field open source is usability, as you usually need to pay usability experts and conduct expensive experiments. You're right that the hardware field is totally different from the software field, however you have to see that instruction sets, which is what RISC-V is about hardly ever change. Today's x86 processors are still compatible with 8086 from 1976 (and assembly compatible with 8008 from 1972). Similarly ARM is from 1985. The thing that's keeping hobbyists out is that producing ASICs is prohibitly expensive.