Bug Blogger

Jonathan Schwartz gets it right

This is the best response I've read to Microsoft's latest saber rattling over patents - from Sun's Jonathan Schwartz.

Microsoft blinks

Lots being said about this Fortune article regarding Microsoft taking the gloves off in its battle with FOSS.  But who exactly is the enemy?  It looks like it's their own customers. 

I'm no history expert, but to draw a gross analogy, it would seem that when governments start to treat their citizens as the enemy it doesn't take too long before a revolution erupts.

And revolutions are funny things.  They bring out the best in people with the most to gain and the absolute worst in those with everything to lose.  I truly hope the battle is never seriously joined.  It's not hard to imagine a Patent Dark Ages, which would be a disaster for everyone, especially customers. 

Open Source Arms

This has been around for a little while, but I just heard about it this morning: Open Source Prosthetics.  It seems like the perfect application of open source principles and ideology to hardware.  Prosthetics users exist in one of the many niche medical markets not sufficiently supported by the industry.  Their needs are very specific and it is often not profitable for large companies to concentrate on the unique needs of few.  Open source principles, the massively collaborative nature of the internet, and rapid manufacturing techniques will open up hardware markets, "filling the needs of niche communities like amputees or developing technologies that are societally beneficial but were previously considered unprofitable (quoted from here)."  With the Open Source Prosthetics Project, we're now seeing regular do-it-yourselfers, engineers, and hobbyists who depend on prosthetics coming up with innovations that will change their lives.

Additionally, this project reflects the larger DIY and openness trends we're seeing on the internet, as well as the idea discussed here that customers will threaten every producer.  All of this is bolstered by the sense of honesty, approachability, and humor shown on the project's site--Their slogan is "Prosthetics shouldn't cost an arm and a leg," and they have a discussion topic called "Pimp My Arm."