I’ve just watched the latest upload from Ash, of DroningOn, and found his arguments, for and against, the use of Opensource in today’s drone scene quite interesting.
It will come as no surprise to many that I have a certain disdain from most things proprietary as I prefer to own what I pay for rather than lease it until such a time as the manufacturer deems it time that I either upgrade or leave their ecosystem.
I’ve been using Opensource hardware and software solutions for quite a few years, not just drone related but all manour of electronic systems, with little to no ill effect. What Ash appears to be highlighting here is the use of Linux as the life support system on a drone, however this is nothing new as manufacturers have used Linux OS on many drones but may not have advertised the fact.
Most Opensource systems are not simple “plug n play” but if a manufacturer were to release as near plug n play Opensource package that offers all the features of current off the shelf proprietary systems would you be prepared to ditch your DJI/Yuneec/Parrot system in favour of an Opensource solution?
From experience with software I would say that the open-source model provides more rapid support and a better quality of answer to a correctly-phrased question.
For a real-life example of open-source hardware look at the PC. When IBM introduced their first PC there was a large number of manufacturers each with their own proprietary systems. Whether by oversight or design IBM’s architecture was open. Clones appeared. Software ran on a range of machines, Economies of scale moved the hardware price down.
With a large number of similar machines being bought niche software could be written, software that might find only a 0.01% of the market but, with a market in the millions, would still be profitable for the developers,
If the same can happen in the UAV market I am all for it.
YES!!! No doubt this would be excellent plus a community could add stuff that dji do not want you to have,even though the drone hardware is capable… as they would rather you bought a new drone…
I would also be in favour of open source firmware. Wonder what the total number of “bricked” units DJI is responsible for with their poor record of “updates”. Then you have to wonder would an open source firmware update be better/less destructive.
I also believe that once a company like DJI drop support for a product like Phantom 3 line, they should sell the tooling to the highest bidder so the people that bought DJI products loyally, can keep using them years after being dropped. Afraid that this seems to be the modern way companies work nowadays. Get the people hooked on your product, then advance it so the punters are forced to renew to keep up.
