[sdiy] Discrete OTA

[David G Dixon]

> > My experience is that a large part of the value is not in 
> the BOM and 
> > schematics of your product, but in the tooling, the knowledge of 
> > manufacturing processes, the factory testing procedures, the deals 
> > negotiated with suppliers... So even if you make parts of 
> your design 
> > open-source, there's still a barrier to entry for people 
> who'd want to 
> > rip you off.
> 
> I think a good model here is Sparkfun. Sure you can copy 
> their "open source" designs. But they have everything needed 
> set up to produce their goods in quantity.

1,000+

Also, when it comes to copycats in the synth module arena, good
old-fashioned outing and shaming works pretty well to discourage such
behaviour.  There was a recent instance of a module maker ripping off a
design, and it didn't work out too well for him.  He lost access to the
single biggest marketing outlet for module makers (Muffwiggler) and his
products can now scarcely be mentioned on that forum without someone
reminding everyone about the incident -- he seems to be permanently tarred
with the label "ripoff artist".  It all makes for a very serious cautionary
tale for anyone thinking about ripping off someone else's designs for
profit.