Open Hardware and Design Alliance

URL = http://www.ohanda.org/

Description

"The Open Hardware and Design Alliance (OHANDA) aims at encouraging the sharing of open hardware and designs. The core of the project is a free online service where manufacturers of Open hardware and designs can register their products with a common label. This label maps the four freedoms of Free Software to physical devices and their documentation. It is similar to a non-registered trademark for hardware and can be compared to other certificates such as U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or CE mark. OHANDA thus has the role of a self-organized registration authority." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Hardware_and_Design_Alliance)

Discussion

The Open Hardware and Design Alliance has rewritten the four freedoms of free software as follows to match them to hardware resp. hardware documentation:

• Freedom 1: The freedom to use the device for any purpose.

• Freedom 2: The freedom to study how the device works and change it to make it to do what you wish. Access to the complete design is precondition to this.

• Freedom 3: Redistribute the device and/or design (remanufacture).

• Freedom 4: The freedom to improve the device and/or design, and release ...

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Hardware_and_Design_Alliance)