Expansion of open source software development model to hardware field

Abstract

'Open source software' has rapidly expanded and now is widely adopted and used all over the world. And many profitable companies adopted 'open source software' as some parts of their business competitive strategy. Recently, 'open source' development model also began to be applied to hardware field. They call it as 'open source hardware'. This study distinguishes between the characteristic of software and that of hardware, and seeks to explain how the difference affects motivation of 'open source' developers including private persons and profitable companies, and the possible future of 'open source hardware'.