[sdiy] Secrets [Was: Discrete OTA]

[Neil Johnson]

Andre Majorel wrote:
> The world of libre software is confronted to the same problems
> but has come to the opposite conclusion. They've been sharing
> code for decades. They never let arses and parasites stop them.
> There is now more code out there to read or hack than anyone can
> handle.
>
> If software hobbyists do it, why couldn't hardware hobbyists ?

Cost of entry.

The cost of entry for developing software is the cost of a computer.
If you can make do with something that's not the top of the range then
you can almost find it for free.  Install Linux, gcc, gdb, python,
octave, scilab, maxima, iverilog, kicad, spice, etc etc.

The cost of entry of developing hardware is significant.  Ignoring the
guy who's happy to make a squeaky sound with a 555 on a home-etched
PCB or stripboard, to develop something significant all the way
through to a viable sellable product requires a lab area, test
equipment (power suppies, DMMs, scopes, frequency counters, signal
analysers, etc), PCBs made, maybe firmware development (it's harder
than PC software), components, front panels cutting and engraving or
printing, and so on.  It costs real money to buy the equipment and
parts to design, prototype, test, refine, productise, manufacture,
ship, and support, a physical thing.

Software has no mass, so you can have "more code out there to read or
hack than anyone can handle" and without practical limit.  That is not
true for hardware.

Even if, as I have done above, we assume that human time is free,
hardware development costs real money out of your pocket.  Software
development doesn't.

Neil
--
http://www.njohnson.co.uk