

Ask HN: are there any successful businesses with open-source physical products? - walden42

In the online space, there are many successful businesses that open source their software without ruining their business, such as blockchain.info. The positive aspects are great: strangers get to submit bug fixes, collaborate and share ideas for the product, and more. Usually the first-mover advantage is enough to keep their business going.<p>Has anyone seen something similar done in the offline space with a physical product? I&#x27;m looking for examples of companies with unique products that, instead of filing for patents, completely open-sourced their projects and made them open for collaboration.
======
mhopkins321
I would say arduino is a pretty good example. Open source everything, but you
can still buy an arduino board.

~~~
chrisBob
I saw the question and arduino quickly came to mind. I clicked here to see if
anyone had other ides.

Sparkfun open sources just about everything they sell, and they are doing ok.

