Interview: Qi Hardware

NanoNote™ images

OpenBusiness: Hi Steve. First of all, can you please introduce yourself to our readers and briefly explain what Qi Hardware is?

Steve Mosher: I’m Steven Mosher President of Qi hardware. The full details on our company can be found on our blog at www.qi-hardware.com. In short, Qi hardware is a start up dedicated to delivering open hardware to free and open software developers. Our principal focus is delivering mass market quality hardware to developers and software VARs so that they can create great end user products. On the hardware development side we are taking a new step by making all of our hardware “copyleft” That means the documentation developers need to program the device and even make hardware modifications is available under a GPL like license. On the software development side our focus will be exclusively on the kernel. End user software is left open to the software community at large.

OB: Was Qi Hardware conceptualised from the beginning as an Open Source project, and could you describe what openness means specifically in the case of hardware?

SM: Yes Qi Hardware was conceptualized from the start as an Open Source project. The founders of Qi have spent the last 2 years working together at Openmoko on the open phone project so the benefits and challenges of open source are well know to us. On the hardware side we are going to create a new kind of hardware, CopyLeft hardware. Today you can join as a Qi developer and get access to the hardware design files as well as participate in creating the roadmap.

OB: How big is the community behind Qi Hardware and do contributors fall into different catagories?

SM: We have just started Qi so the community is just starting to form. Initially the members are people who have an interest in MIPS processors as our first product uses a MIPS. In addition, we see interest from the OpenWRT community and from developers interested in building a device that is targeted at Open content, in particular Creative Commons content.

OB: How is the community managed (do you rely on online tools, for example), and what is your role and that of the team behind the project?

SM: The community is managed through the lists that people can sign up for, our blogs, and eventually a wiki and other tools like trac. Our role in managing consists of providing access to all documentation, guiding the selection of software projects, and facilitating projects with early access to hardware. We will also sponser some projects with donated hardware. As the community grows we would look to add staff to handle increased responsibilities.

OB: How are revenues from Qi Hardware produced and distributed?

SM: Today the plan is to make money by selling hardware. Currently Qi is self funded so revenues will be returned to the employees who have donated their time and money to get the company started. We are also seeking investment, primarily to fund inventory. We are also looking at partnering with groups that provide software, for example VARs who want to buy the hardware at a discount add their software and resell it.

OB: With more and more projects describing themselves as ‘Open Hardware’, do you think this will become more mainstream and where do you see potential challenges or limitations?

SM: Yes it will become more mainstream. It is a direct consequence of where manufacturing is happening. The biggest challenges to open hardware are as follows:

1. Convincing component suppliers to release their documentation without NDA. Over time as more companies try this and discover that open documents benefit them this challenge will become easier.

2. Maintain a clear definition of what Open means in the hardware arena. To us Open means that if you have the tools and skills and resources you could build the hardware yourself.

3. Finding competitive advantages beyond design secrecy.

4. Explaining the benefits to mass market end users in a clear simple way.

OB: Finally, what is your vision for Qi Hardware?

SM: We see the future for Open hardware and open software as very bright. Step by step we see companies that were closed becoming more and more open. Progress is being made on many fronts. Our goal is to get ahead of that movement and provide leadership and direction for others. We want to be instrumental in creating the open eco-system. This is not something that will happen overnight. No one great product will create the eco system in a quarter. Our vision is, interestingly enough, is to be copied. That is, we don’t aim at world domination, but rather we aim at being financially sound, growing, and enabling others to attack the markets that we choose not to enter.