The Economist has published an excellent article “Open sesame“in its most recent Technology Quarterly about open source hardware, and how different businesses take advantage of it:

“…an emerging class of electronic devices, for which the specifications have been made public, so that enthusiasts can suggest refinements, write and share software improvements, and even build their own devices from scratch. This is not as daft as it sounds. Even if all the details needed to build something are available, few people will have the tools or the inclination to do so….”