Open-sourcing Concerto firmware?

[+x=usr(1536)]

Question for @batari: would you be interested in considering the possibility of open-sourcing the Concerto (and/or Harmony) firmware?  It occurred to me that this could be a good way to take a large chunk of the pressure off of you in terms of the time and energy taken to maintain it while keeping leadership of its direction.

[+Mitch]

It would also make it easier for someone to bootleg his designs.

 

Mitch

[+x=usr(1536)]

1 hour ago, Mitch said:

It would also make it easier for someone to bootleg his designs.

 

Mitch

I understand the concern, but given that the Concerto is built on off-the-shelf hardware, anyone who can look at the PCB can duplicate it.  The firmware is freely downloadable in this forum, so the software to drive it can also be studied (granted, it would have to be reverse-engineered, but that's only a stumbling block until someone does it).

 

My feeling is that it's such a niche product that it's not worth going to those lengths simply because there's no real financial gain to be had from doing so.  Being able to open up contribution to a wider audience, however, has its benefits.  FujiNet's rapid pace of development is a good example of this.

[+batari]

Just now, x=usr(1536) said:

Anyone with a Concerto and the ability to download any version of the firmware (which is openly available in this forum) has everything they need to do that already.

If I keep my rights to the firmware, I have some power to prevent sales of bootlegged devices. If I open source it, I can lose all of those rights, which is something we have seen with other open source flashcart projects.

 

I am currently working on the next firmware, which I know is a long time coming. One by one I am accomplishing the goals I set out to do. I will soon have another daily build for all to try.

 

Eventually I will consider a private group of individuals here who are willing and able to help, but I want everything in a better state first.

[+x=usr(1536)]

4 minutes ago, batari said:

If I keep my rights to the firmware, I have some power to prevent sales of bootlegged devices. If I open source it, I can lose all of those rights, which is something we have seen with other open source flashcart projects.

 

I am currently working on the next firmware, which I know is a long time coming. One by one I am accomplishing the goals I set out to do. I will soon have another daily build for all to try.

 

Eventually I will consider a private group of individuals here who are willing and able to help, but I want everything in a better state first.

And that's more than reasonable.  FWIW, the question wasn't being asked to try to goad you into doing more work on the next version of the firmware - I really just was curious to know your stance on the idea.