FAQ

Will a company that joins the support of OSE product development efforts have any business advantage over any other local company in utilizing the technology when available (faster access, access to other knowledge, etc.), or does that go against your philosophy?

That's a good question. The existence of a business advantage depends on what type of business you are operating. If you are an open source-type business, that means that you invest in development of things that you are interested in offering as products. It also means that you are tapping collective intelligene. In this scenario, you accept the conept of free enterprise - a Jeffersonan concept that means that barrier-free access exists for anyone who wants to go into business. This is not the current mainstream model, which typically operates as monopoly capitalism.

On the other hand, if you are interested in a business advantage via barriers to entry of other players, such as non-disclosure or delayed disclosure of the development results - then the answer is that we do not engage in such practice. This is simply because such secrecy does note promote the highest level of flexibility or innovation. The benefits of the energy created by openness outweigh the advantages of immediate funding. The immediate funding will not address the long-term needs of open source economic development.

Supporters of 'monopoly capitalism' - as distinguished from open source 'capitalism' - may argue that protection of proprietary interest promotes invention. We assert that collective intelligence, now available in the internet age, has much more potent creation potential than proprietary development. When collective intelligence is active in product development, the gap between the producer and consumer can now be narrowed - with the emergence of personal fabrication. We believe that this is trend is increasing, and that needs can be satisfied more efficiently using this method.

So to answer the question more explicitly - yes, you will get faster access - in so far as the results are produced more quickly when additional support materializes. Yes, there will be access to other knowledge - in so far as additional funding can produce more practical improvements. The only trick is - everyone will have access to these results, because we will be working towards these goals efficiently - ie., by utlizing full openness in our research program. We have learned from our experience that the more open you are, the more collective intelligence you are able to tap. Indeed, we don't believe a proprietary effort can ever be as effective - - in terms of the overall quality of resulting products. We are far along in demonstrating this with our Factor 10 engineering results. Granted, this does require an open source business model, which may not be consistent with your company's current model.

If there is a way that your company can attain competitive advantage without requiring the limiting of any disclosure, then it should invest in our developments. If not, your company may want to consider further evaluation of the open source business model to determine its relevance to future corporate strategy.