Limor Fried discusses why she creates open source hardware. She started by releasing early projects like SpokePOV and Minty MP3 as non-commercial to share her learning, but others derived and sold copies without contributing back. This led her to fully publish designs as open source hardware using share-alike licenses to build an open community where people contribute improvements for the benefit of all. She continues open source hardware work to join a collaborative community, ensure her creations outlast her, and improve her own engineering skills.

2. AYAH
ALICIA
NICE WORK

4. THIS IS NOT HOW
TO RUN A
MULTI-MILLION $
COMPANY
FROM YOUR APARTMENT

5. WHY DO
OPEN SOURCE
HARDWARE?
LIMOR FRIED

7. SOFTWARE HAD
A LICENSE
HARDWARE DID NOT

9. SpokePOV (2003)
Makes pictures in the air with a bicycle

10. Training wheels, literally!
Project was intended
for burning man
Not for sale at first
Files didn’t go online -
was non-commercial
once it was to start
“Learned” MCUs on
this...

11. My ex-boyfriend made a
closed derivative for sale

12. Minty MP3
2004
Music in a mint tin

13. All ears...
Another project to learn
MCUs
Looked at a lot of
“available” resources
It was a derivative

14. Clones made and sold

15. Wave Bubble (2004)
Portable cell phone jammer

16. Culture jamming
Thesis project for
school
Couldn’t sell, it was
illegal
It had to be published
one way or another

17. I am apparently a terrorist

18. MiniPOV (2005)
Spell words in the air

19. Persistence of easy
Built as a giveaway for
my dorm
Not “open source”
Later offered as a kit,
went open source

20. Security through low value

21. x0xb0x (2004-2005)
“Open source” Roland 303 clone

22. ALL THE CLONE
DESIGNS WERE
SECRETIVE
SO WE SAID “FUCK THIS”

23. Breaking even strategy
Reverse engineered a
broken synth
Wrote everything from
scratch
Not OSHW when
release, later made it
OSHW

24. THERE WILL BE
ACID TECHNO
IN THE YEAR 2050

25. “Prove you designed this”...

26. Open source kit business
2006 to present

27. WHY
DO
THIS?
WHY PUBLISH JUST TO HAVE YOUR
DESIGNS LAUGHED AT AND STOLEN ?

28. CRITIQUES,
RIDICULE & THEFT

29. YOUR
PROJECT
HERE

31. WHAT IF
SOMETHING BAD
HAPPENS?
BEING OBSCURE
IS THE ENEMY

32. WTF WERE WE THINKING?

33. DERIVATIVES
MUTANTS
MISTAKES
TURN YOUR FEAR
INTO PRIDE

34. FULL, PUBLISHED
AND FREE
FREE AS IN SPEECH
IT HELPS OTHERS FOR SURE

35. OSHW AS A....
A MARKETING TERM?
A BUZZ PHRASE?

36. DO NOT POISON
THIS WONDERFUL THING

37. WORKING ON HARDWARE
CAN BE LONELY
WITHOUT A COMMUNITY

38. ALTRUISTIC,
CAPITALISTIC,
SELF-ABSORBED?
WE SHOULD GIVE BECAUSE IT MAKES
US BETTER PEOPLE

39. ONE OF THE
BEST THINGS
ABOUT OSHW
SHARE-ALIKE IS VIRAL

40. IF YOU’VE CUT
OUT A PIECE OF
YOUR HEART&
GIVEN IT AWAY
YOU ARE AWESOME

41. "Copyright terms were initially 14 years – about the time it
took to raise a child to adulthood. After 14 years (or 18
years now, we’ve extended legal infancy) parents really
have to let go of their children, and acknowledge they don’t
“own” them. In fact they never did. So it is with Art.”
NINA PALEY

42. SO, WHY DO
I CREATE OPEN
SOURCE
HARDWARE?

43. WE DO
OPEN SOURCE
HARDWARE
TO JOIN A
COMMUNITY

44. WE DO
OPEN SOURCE
HARDWARE
WHAT WE MAKE
WILL OUTLAST US

45. WE DO
OPEN SOURCE
HARDWARE
TO BECOME
BETTER ENGINEERS

46. YOU ALWAYS GET
BACK MORE THAN
WHAT YOU GIVE

47. THANK YOU