Date   : Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:37:09 +0100
From   : etljwk@... (John Kenyon)
Subject: ReTuLa, a Tube ULA

Darren Grant wrote:
> On 5 Apr 2010, at 12:08, Phill Harvey-Smith wrote:
>   
>> Ahh so another closed design, with a single point of supply so the 
>> community is no better off in the end.....
>>
>>     
> What did you expect from John Kortink, to him ours is not a community for
sharing it is a business opportunity.
>
> I am the first to acknowledge that not everything in life should be free, 
people need to earn a living but I would have hoped for a bit more of a 
community spirit from people in a group like this. After all I would hope 
people have a real day job and their tinkering with 1980's era kit is something
they do in their spare time. I wonder how many of the people making these
closed projects make use of free tools such as linux each day.
>
> Personally I feel the best way to deal with such a project is get pre-orders 
so that a production run can be made and therefore all costs recovered then 
when these have been shipped make the design available so that anyone who 
would like to build one can but it will likely cost more than simply ordering 
one from a batch. That way people can take the design and improve on it and
also it will still be available in the future when the designer is dead.
Using closed designs just serves to make another dead end.
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>   
I beg to differ. If this was some kind of collaborative "open source 
hardware" project, designed with the extensive participation of "the 
community", then I would agree. But it isn't - it's hardware being 
developed by an individual on a semi-commercial basis.

I would love to know how much John has spent on development tools and 
hardware, and whether the "profits" from selling his designs has come 
anywhere near covering his outgoings.

BTW I don't see how using "free tools such as linux" has any bearing on 
this matter. If I lent a mechanic a screwdriver for nothing, I still 
wouldn't expect him to fix my car for free.

/John