OSHWA to be the united front for open source hardware

Open source as a concept and as a practical means of software distribution has been around for quite some time. Today, there are numerous products distributed through one of a handful of open source licenses available to software producers.

OSHWA to be the united front for open source hardware

While the idea of open source software (OSS) does not appeal to everyone, real income and Red Hat’s 20 years of Suse (known for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server) make for great evidence in support of a liberal approach to intellectual property which does not restrict the development market.

Many people don’t realize that the idea of open source is not limited to software: it is one also endorsed by certain computer hardware developers. One project in particular stands out as a symbol of open hardware: the Arduino microcontroller. This circuit board hardware schematic is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 2.5 license. The source code for the IDE and the on-board library – used to program the board — are also available, having been released under a GPLv2 license.

So, although the open source hardware movement exists, hardware developers supporting it remain without an organization to coordinate their efforts. The good news it that this role may be taken up by the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA), which recently announced its existence.

With a view to changing this, a group of people attending the Open Hardware Summit 2011 decided to create a non-profit organization called the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA). This organization has as its mandate: the education of individuals and the general public about open source hardware; organization of the open source hardware movement around a system of shared values and principles; dissemination of information and advice on best practices and standards for open source hardware; encouragement for collaborative learning and knowledge exchange; promotion of the use and continued development of open source hardware; and, encouragement for educational and economic development, information collecting about open hardware, and other actions will would help further the overall movement.

OSHWA founders realize that, on the one hand, open projects require appropriate legal arrangements to ensure openness while, on the other hand, they also require resistance to legal attack from large corporations which may feel threatened.

OSHWA to be the united front for open source hardware 5.005 (100.00%) 1 vote
Share
This article was first published April 19th, 2012