On 6 Oct 2009, at 02:18, Werner Almesberger wrote: > Stroller wrote: >> This barometer is self-contained and connected to the i2c bus, a >> _relatively_ simple addition. If there is demand for the barometer - >> although I'm inclined to agree with Rask that there wouldn't be - >> then >> it might it be justified to add it were Brazil ever to go into >> Freerunner production. > > Here's where Open Design Hardware changes the scenario: if you have an > (open) base product, you can design, produce, and deploy small changes > for a special interest group at a comparably low price - a bit higher > than if the change was part of the mass-produced design, but > considerably lower than any traditional alternatives. > >> software installed. The software would have to be closed-source, > [... more horror material ...] > > Why bother ? Even if we assume for a moment that you can't make money > selling unencumbered software, you'd have the enhanced hardware > already as a kind of dongle. Also, since this would be a highly > specialized niche product, I would expect customer loyalty to be high.
Honestly? To add the barometer appears a very easy task. It involves soldering two wires, right? If you were to start a business based on this, you might charge $100 markup to make the modification but also to cover the cost of the full- time job writing and supporting the software. I think more might even be reasonable, or you might have tiered packages depending upon software features. The Freerunner is readily available mail order - if a student in your local town were to offer to upgrade the hardware for $20, sorry, I think the business would be completely undermined. And there are Linux- competent students in every town - the "dongle", as you call it, is too easily manufactured by anyone. I love & believe in Free software, but I just don't know that it's realistic to expect to make money out of it that way. Were I ever - as a sole-trader presently - to write commercial code, I would probably GPL it in my will. Rau1 remarks on the readability of the screen - he surely is far more familiar with the current state of the sport than I am, since I have not flown in 5 years. In this case it might be better to base a design on a custom Gumstix-based board and a black-and-white screen, so the discussion becomes entirely moot. Stroller. _______________________________________________ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community