Re: [rp-ml] I've been surprised that no one has mentioned ...

From: Adrian Bowyer <A.Bowyer_at_bath.ac.uk>
Date: Tue Aug 18 2009 - 22:54:25 EEST

Markus Hitter wrote:

> I'd be interested in some opinions why this can happen at the same time
> a similar open source project (RepRap, Fab@Home) apparently succeeds.

The key is that Open Source. Desktop Factory was not OS.

The biggest reason the OS projects work (don't forget RepRap OS spinoff
MakerBot) is a total lack of confidentiality and secrecy: when anyone in
the OS community has an idea, they share it immediately. That allows
you to get a lot done very fast indeed. And that sharing happens
because the ideas' originators know that no one is going to try to put
some sort of "intellectual property" limitation on them.

As RepRap's Vik Olliver is fond of saying, "We are not artificially
constrained by the need to make a profit." People doing things for fun
will do them for nothing - and quite right too. So our Research and
Development Department consists of _many_thousands_ of engineers, quite
a few of whom know what they're talking about, and who will work on
problems into the night for $0 pay, purely for their own satisfaction.

Best wishes

Adrian

Dr Adrian Bowyer
http://people.bath.ac.uk/ensab
http://reprap.org
Received on Tue Aug 18 22:49:18 2009

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