Technology for big computers, electric cars and high-technology microcontrollers to operate things like power tools and engines is now given away. These ideas used to be valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. To the new generation of technologists, however, moving projects and data fast overrides the value of making everything in secret.
Excerpted from QUENTIN HARDY:
“Enormous global connectivity also makes it possible for developers of all kinds to find one another and share ideas, even large video and schematics files. In 2006, about 18,000 people attended the first Maker Faire, where participants showed off what they were making in their sheds, held in the San Francisco Bay Area. Last year 750,000 people attended 131 such fairs around the world.
“The Arduino microcontroller, drones, 3-D printers, the Raspberry Pi — people share designs and information on all these things,” said Dale Dougherty, creator of the Maker Faire and the chief executive of Make Media. “A lot of companies are adopting this mind-set too.”
While it is not strictly open source, the Raspberry Pi, a computer costing as little as $30, uses Linux and has a large community of developers who share information.
When companies do make hardware free, Mr. Dougherty said, it is not usually altruistic. “It can create competition for your enemy without spending money on a new product,” he said. He noted that IBM went into open-source software in the 1990s, and Microsoft suffered.
Sometimes companies want to kick-start business. Facebook’s open designs have enabled commercial relationships that lower its supply costs as well as speed innovation.
In another stunning example, in June, Elon Musk, the founder and chief executive of Tesla Motors, said he was giving away all his electric car company’s patents, “in the spirit of the open-source movement.”
“Technology leadership is not defined by patents,” Mr. Musk wrote, “but rather by the ability of a company to attract and motivate the world’s most talented engineers.”
More than electric car patents, Tesla wanted to see an electric car industry. “We released the Tesla Model S in June of 2012 and expected other manufacturers to create cars with similar performance and range, but nothing comparable came along,” said Alexis Georgeson, a Tesla spokeswoman.
By releasing the patents, she said, Tesla hoped to spur consumer acceptance and even create a network of supporting businesses, like car charging stations and mechanics. That would also help Tesla’s sales.
There have indeed been more and better electric cars since then, possibly supporting Tesla’s bet. Independent engineers have also contacted Tesla with design ideas, though Tesla would not say if it has made deals with them.
Mr. Musk’s efforts have borne fruit in at least one other major area: Facebook has started installing lithium ion batteries in its data centers, thanks in part to the work Tesla has done on the technology.
Does this mean the birth of a new world where everything is free and all ideas are open? No. Facebook will not disclose things like its business plans, or much of how its ad technology uses artificial intelligence. And there are things it will patent.
“There are competing goals here, protecting and sharing,” said Mr. Dougherty. “You have to figure out where you are in a business and what you want to own.”