Last Updated on January 20, 2023 by pg@petergamma.org
- Open source software lives longer.
- The first release of AbiWord was on 1. december 1998:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/AbiWord
– on Jul 3, 2021,AbiWord 3.0.5 has been released. Abword is not very popular. But it is used for instance on the Linux Phonephone, a device which also cannot be found in every supermarket, but is mainly available from Pine64.
- Open source hardware lives longer:
- OpenBCI had a successful Kickstarter campain at the end of 2013 and is still available 10 years later. Many other closed source products have died since then.
- OpenBCI Gerber files can be obtained from OpenBCI, modified and used for own developments
- Developers which sell OpenBCI products on Aliexress modified OpenBCI modules, updated the WIFI shield, fused Daisy boards with other boards, WIFI shields with other boards. changed the number of channels, added USB-c and developed new cases and caps. But who wants to dependent on these sellers to use their products on the long-term?
- More interesting is for us personally to have our own Gerber files and be independent from developers and sellers.
- We observed that sellers react on us quickly, and change the costs of their devices, but we do not want to depend on those developers and sellers
- Neurosity developed their own products which are based on OpenBCI. But Neurosity products lack certain features which we miss from their products. –
- To develop those by ourselves is more interesting for us personally, than to depend on developers and sellers.
- Many developers develop their own devices for themselves, for instance Linux phones. For every developers his own UBports phone. But these often are not interested in developing their hard- and software further, because neither to sell it or to develop it is interesting.
- This leaves frustrated costumers for which it becomes interesting to have their own developement.