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Most products aren't all that hard to reverse engineer so being open really doesn't hurt you all that much, if it is being popular it will be cloned, open hardw
by ilyt 3y ago
Most products aren't all that hard to reverse engineer so being open really doesn't hurt you all that much, if it is being popular it will be cloned, open hardware or not.
And I think it can work if you are trying to make money on services rather than devices used to provide them.
Say you're IoT company, selling open devices that are cloned easily doesn't affect you if you make money on providing best interface for them out there.
- HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago> make money on services rather than devices used to provide them I've come to the same conclusion over time. It's really difficult to make money just selling hardware. But making money customizing hardware or basing a software product/service around readily available hardware is a much simpler business model.
- varispeed 3y ago> And I think it can work if you are trying to make money on services rather than devices used to provide them. You sort of proving my point. If you open sourced firmware, apps, any service software, there is no reason why someone else couldn't run it without having to incur R&D and other costs and take your lunch. Hardware is rather easy to clone, that's why many manufacturers don't care to submit their designs to Chinese companies. Often it more or less follows the datasheets. Firmware, however, is a completely different pair of shoes.