Comment on Are there any non capitalistic technology companies still around?

• JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Open-source hardware is almost non-existant compared to software. There is a reason for it.

  I am an electronics engineer who makes open source hardware as a hobby.

  Hardware is extremely different from software. It requires substantial monetary investment.

  My company last year did a dirt-cheap lowest-possible-budget prototype design and run of 10 for someone funding themselves independently. It cost 8000€ for the design and that one prototype run, and an extremely simple design at that (electronically, medical-spec mechanically).

  Software you buy a system and you can develop and develop and iterate and test 1000 times and develop multiple projects on that single machine. If you sell 0 units, sure you are out a computer and a ton of personal time. Sucks, but you won’t lose your house.

  If you do electronics + mechanical development, every time you iterate on the electronics, that will be 200€-1000€ please, plus test equipment. If you make a small mistake equivalent to a wrong pointer that is another 1000 down the drain.

  Hardware projects, pure material-wise, can cost more than a car to develop (just going through CE and FCC compliance testing can be 2k-10k and you aren’t allowed to sell in the EU without it.

  You need capital to burn. Most people would rather make a down payment on a house than develop open hardware that might never recoup just the material costs.

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  • jagged_circle@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    The key for open source hardware is crowd funding. Source: I’ve run an open source hardware company for years.

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    • JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      That is very cool, I have never met someone who had success with open hardware. Can I ask what the company is?

      Any tips for doing crowd funding if I decide to put my stuff on the market? I feel like crowd funding has died off a lot in comparison with 10 years ago since most campaigns either don’t reach the goal, don’t deliver the product (or a very basis version), or were scams to begin with.

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      • jagged_circle@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Nope, but there’s loads of open hardware on Crowd Supply

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