Noncommercial independent collaborations

> The main point of Raymond's book is that open source software
> developers are motivated by two factors: the personal utility of their
> work product, and the respect of their peers. The fact that other
> people are able to use the product is a unique feature of software that
> has made noncommercial software incredibly successful, since others can
> modify the code without interfering with its use in the original form.
> There is no way to take this model over to hardware completely intact.

I agree with your suggestions that relatively small projects
microsatellites or a lunar rover could be good starts for open and free
collaboration.

Here are two more issues to consider in your analysis: simulation and
freedom.

Frankly, I expect most of the collaboration to be about developing
simulations together. That essentially is programming of a sort, and
then the development model related to software then applies to virtual
hardware. I know simulations have their limits (all too well, I spent
years making one that still has numerous flaws), so your statement has
truth to it. Still, there is a lot that can be done in simulation --
especially when using a PC or PC network you can now simulate
interactions on a small scale at the quantum level and at a large scale
of systems with billions of components (just not both at the same time.
:-) Obviously, simulations are more accurate if calibrated periodically
with real world experiments, but still, there is so much real world data
out there on the physical properties of materials that initial
simulations can be developed without an immediate need for experiment.
Also, there is a whole category of simulations related to logistics (to
make a bolt you need a lathe, to make a lathe you need a casting, etc.)
which gives another place to start as well. Obviously, taking your
microsatellite example, at some point you want to do simulations of
radiation interacting with your simulated processor, etc. which might
take a lot of CPU if done in detail...

The other issue relates to freedom, and Eric Raymond, who is more
commercially oriented, doesn't quite do this justice (even the name
"open source software" was put forward as more business friendly than
"free software"). See Richard Stallman
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html
http://www.oreilly.com/openbook/freedom/
http://www.stallman.org/
for another take on this. I'm not so sure the freedom issue is unique to
software; I'd tend to feel it may have shown up there first in the USA
(in large part due to Richard Stallman's tireless efforts at promotion
of the idea as a cause), but it can apply to all sorts of works. People
create for a whole host of good and bad reasons beyond utility and
recognition. Two of these are self expression (think of all the essays
and artwork on the web, accessible at no charge) and charity (e.g. those
habitat for humanity houses), but you can name any virtue or vice and
come up with a rationale of how it could drive creativity. I'll agree
that utility and recognition are perhaps the biggest drivers right now
for software. Still, even given that, the creation of something like
GNU/Linux by emergent stigmergic processes (collaboration coordinated by
an artifact) would not be possible without the use of free licenses such
as the GPL license or BSD license or Public Domain disclaimers.
Regardless of intentions, it is the commitment of work to be issued
under such licenses or disclaimers that allow the works to be developed
collaboratively by volunteers. So the big issue here is "freedom" to
use, redistribute, change, and publish changes.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
Without these freedoms, collaboration is not possible on a volunteer
basis. So, what we are ultimately talking about here is changing the
culture of at least some of space engineering -- from one focused on
proprietary works (even at NASA!) to one focused on free works. And
there is nothing about freedom that says it has to be for no price or
non-commercial -- doctors and lawyers and accountants and engineers use
free information and free standards every day to craft custom solutions
for clients for which they charge hefty fees.

--Paul Fernhout