View source for Open Design

Open Design is the application of the principles of [[Free and Open Source Software]] (FOSS) to the design of physical objects such as machines and computer hardware. Open Design is a general term covering a number of specific [[Open Source]] movements. [[Open Source Hardware]] refers primarily to Open Design of microcomputer chips (integrated circuits). [[Open Source Tool Design]] refers primarily to the Open Design of machines. The specific goal of these Open Design mouvements is to use collaborative design principles to assemble on-line libraries of open-source designs. The requires federation of Open Design communities around relevant websites. It may be preferable in some cases to incorporate certain proprietary elements into the otherwise open-source designs, thereby permitting open-source designs even for high-tech products. For example, given the difficulty and expense of design and fabrication of today's extremely complex chips, the [[Open Source Hardware]] movement accepts the use of certain proprietary, closed-source, elements as part of the open-source approach.

==General information on Open Design==
For general information on Open Design, see the following:
*Wikipedia article on "Open Design": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_design

==Open Design information on this website==
On the present website, pages about Open Design will be found in the following categories:
*[[:Category:Open Design People]]
*[[:Category:Open Design Websites]]
*[[:Category:Open Design Projects]]
*[[:Category:Open Design Concepts]]

[[Category:Open Design]]