they're fine if you don't mind sharing your design with other people .
It's a nice idea.... as far as your ideas aren't exploited commercially...
I don't mind people sharing my designs... I mind companies having big bucks from them....
well that's whole point of Open Source. anyone can use it. big companies either have to embrace it and make it better or avoid it.
all the software i use at home and most of the software i use at work is open source.
nice to see an Open hardware idea. i'm not saying it's practical for every project, just interesting.
take the original IBM compatible PC as an example of open standards at work,
there were loads of PC companies on the go at the time but IBM realised that if they made a platform that anyone could be compatible with they would set an industry standard of which they would have a large share. PCs are still called "IBM compatible" to this day and it's only recently that IBM have decided to duck out of a market they would never had a piece of if they had followed every other company's logic.
dunk.
(ranting again after too much gin. you missed my rants right?)
