Ask HN: are there any successful businesses with open-source physical products?
In the online space, there are many successful businesses that open source their software without ruining their business, such as blockchain.info. The positive aspects are great: strangers get to submit bug fixes, collaborate and share ideas for the product, and more. Usually the first-mover advantage is enough to keep their business going.
Has anyone seen something similar done in the offline space with a physical product? I'm looking for examples of companies with unique products that, instead of filing for patents, completely open-sourced their projects and made them open for collaboration.
Comments
I would say arduino is a pretty good example. Open source everything, but you can still buy an arduino board.
I saw the question and arduino quickly came to mind. I clicked here to see if anyone had other ides.
Sparkfun open sources just about everything they sell, and they are doing ok.