Last year, along with other members of the Arduino team and colleagues from several other open source hardware makers, I attended the Open Hardware Summit in New York. We began working on a definition and statement of principles for producing open hardware.  The discussion was grounded in our experience running our businesses, and we aimed to capture both the pragmatic realities of open hardware and the best practices in a definition that could help guide companies and individuals trying to work this way.
We’re happy to announce that after several months of discussion, writing, and debate, version 1.0 of the open source hardware definition and statement of principles has been released. Though many people were involved, praise and credit has to go to Ayah Bdeir, who, along with Alicia Gibb, got the ball rolling, and wrangled a sometimes difficult and opinionated group into consensus. I admire Ayah’s spirit, and her ability to combine diplomacy and brute emotional force to get things done.
The definition is a good starting point to talk about what open source hardware is, what best practices are, and how the businesses making it work. Â My hope is that it will lead to more mainstream adoption of open source hardware practices. Hopefully someday soon we’ll see a major consumer device that’s manufactured using these principles.
Ayah writes:
Now, to move forward, please HELP:
1. Endorse the definition, post your feedback on version 1.0 on the forum and the mailing list as we work towards a 1.1 update in the next few weeks / months.
2. Take a look at the logos we are considering for “open source hardwareâ€, give feedback or submit your own logo on the forum, in the thread LOGO.
3. Show your support of the OSHW Definition by applying the definition to your work/project/website
This is a very important step in propelling our movement forward. PLEASE FORWARD FAR AND WIDE.
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