An Intellectual Property Tangent...

I'd like to take a few moments and discuss a rather heated topic that has been alive for quite some time, Open vs. Closed Source (i.e. "Intellectual Property", "Code Sharing", etc.), and how it relates to my project and blog. Several people now have asked me the following (or something close):

"Are you worried someone could 'steal' your ideas and profit?"

The short answer is no.

The goal of this blog has been to share, with EVERYONE, the experience I had taking an idea from concept to prototype. For this project, I have taken the stance that what I have learned should be open to anyone else looking to have a similar experience. I would feel nothing short of accomplishment if someday I found a shooting timer that has implemented some facet of my project.

Thus far, I have posted several items discussing, in detail, what my goals were with Project Smoke & Hope. Included in these items are detailed schematics, a demo user interface, and information pertaining to the necessary parts required to duplicate what I have done. In future posts I will provide source code for both the hardware and software aspects.

There are a few reasons why I feel sharing this information is important:

1. Some of the problems I have faced and solved are ones that have already been solved by companies producing these timers. This information should be open to everyone so that someone might improve what already exists.
   
2. The concepts I have attempted to expand upon are still in a rough stage, and need much work to become a fully functional consumer product.
3. The prototype I have developed is only a single piece in a much larger implementation that I have in mind for future ventures. It is this concept that I would plan to expand and develop as a marketable product.

I hope this post has shed some light as to why I felt it important to share what I have done. I have conducted a purely academic study and simply tracked my progress, and I encourage anyone who finds this interesting to expand upon what I have done. Hopefully, they too find it as important to share what they learn.

I'd like to leave you with a final thought:

"The best way we truly learn is by sharing what we know with those around us."
• • •