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A very interesting message hidden in this post is that software patents are bad for innovation. Perhaps I am stretching things a bit by going from kitesurfing

A very interesting message hidden in this post is that software patents are bad for innovation. Perhaps I am stretching things a bit by going from kitesurfing to software patents. The idea popped into my mind when I read passages like these: "In the early days, there were small pockets of kiteboarders spread across the world. These pioneers didn’t work in isolation; they were able to share their ideas on sites like KiteForum.com. They posted clips of new tricks that they’d landed, improvements they’d made to their gear, safety tips, amazing new locations, and anything else they thought other kiteboarders should know." "The lag time between someone inventing a new trick and everyone else catching up is much smaller when the innovators can distribute their ideas instantly." Think about where we would be if companies didn't have to spend billions of dollars to acquire patents and, instead, invested that money towards driving true innovation.

ZeroGravitas 13y ago
DEMOCRATIZING INNOVATION- by Eric Von Hippel talks about this and uses a few extreme sports (including the birth of mountain biking) as examples: http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/democ1.htm http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/democ1.htm edit: Just checked and kitesurfing gets three mentions in the index and is the main non-software case study of chapter 7.
- tmp3098512 13y ago
  Yet the most widespread kite design today is patented and was developed secretly by two men. Nevertheless, I agree with the author that in the early days collaboration (and competition) between innovative kitesurfers drove the sport forward. Even today the innovation does not come from the main manufacturers who do nothing but repackaging last year's models.
  - ZeroGravitas 13y ago
    In the book Hippel talks about two different kinds of innovation, one which "lead users" can come up with because they're at the cutting edge of their field and wanting to go further, and another that manufacturers can come up with because they've got deep knowledge about manufacturing. If "repackaging" involves making it cheaper to produce then that's a good thing, even if it's not the cool kind of innovation that people like to celebrate.
opminion 13y ago
Would the issue of personal safety not be a main difference between both domains? I would (wildly) guess that KiteForum contributors benefit from safer approaches to known and potential tricks, in a way that other innovators do not.

ZeroGravitas 13y ago

DEMOCRATIZING INNOVATION- by Eric Von Hippel talks about this and uses a few extreme sports (including the birth of mountain biking) as examples: http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/democ1.htm http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/democ1.htm edit: Just checked and kitesurfing gets three mentions in the index and is the main non-software case study of chapter 7.

tmp3098512 13y ago
Yet the most widespread kite design today is patented and was developed secretly by two men. Nevertheless, I agree with the author that in the early days collaboration (and competition) between innovative kitesurfers drove the sport forward. Even today the innovation does not come from the main manufacturers who do nothing but repackaging last year's models.
- ZeroGravitas 13y ago
  In the book Hippel talks about two different kinds of innovation, one which "lead users" can come up with because they're at the cutting edge of their field and wanting to go further, and another that manufacturers can come up with because they've got deep knowledge about manufacturing. If "repackaging" involves making it cheaper to produce then that's a good thing, even if it's not the cool kind of innovation that people like to celebrate.

opminion 13y ago

Would the issue of personal safety not be a main difference between both domains? I would (wildly) guess that KiteForum contributors benefit from safer approaches to known and potential tricks, in a way that other innovators do not.