What is the meaning of 'Open Source' in electrical and computer field?

[pairofstrings]

Thanks!

 

[Adyssa]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source

Open Source generally means that the source code for the project is "open", so a user can modify it. Different licenses exist, the GPL is a common one, in which the user is obliged to release their modified source code.

Open Source does not necessarily imply that the product is free, although it often does.

 

[uart]

Thanks!

I think you mean the "software" field. In the electrical field "open source" would be a mosfet device that required an external pull down resistor.

 

[MATLABdude]

I think you mean the "software" field. In the electrical field "open source" would be a mosfet device that required an external pull down resistor.

I've seen some "open source" hardware projects as well (including the Arduino platform which seems to be quite popular here--having never used it, I can't comment on it). Aside from the new name, I don't know if there's really anything new conceptually, since lots of electronics hobbyists and EEs have shared (in magazine, BBS, or forum format) schematics, code, layouts / gerbers, and in turn, refined and re-shared what they had.