from Hacker News

Ask HN: are there any successful businesses with open-source physical products?

by walden42 on 5/12/14, 2:31 PM with 2 comments

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.

  • by mhopkins321 on 5/12/14, 2:32 PM

    I would say arduino is a pretty good example. Open source everything, but you can still buy an arduino board.