One of my previous post was about the advantages of open source hardware and its possible model. However, there are situations where open source hardware is not a very good idea.
- Small companies which can not produce something in big quantities hence can not compete in price
- You need money to run your business and do not have extra cash to put into open source hardware and have no time to wait for the community to come and help you run your business
- The design is for a specific customer who does not want to disclose his IP (intellectual property)
- The situation where the open source hardware can clearly be used for wrong-doing. Anything which is clearly going to hurt somebody must be discouraged
- You have tough competition and opening up the IP will drag you out of competition
Though it is possible to keep some designs open while the other closed, companies tagged with open source usually keep all of their designs open. However, striking right balance between open and close is necessary to serve techno-society as well as keeping the customers satisfied.
