Why open
Open source raised the floor.
It worked for software and AI. Open Product brings it to everything we make.
01 · What open source proved
Knowledge compounds.
Six reasons people back open source. Each one carries over to physical products.
- Compounding
Start ahead
Shared work is everyone's start.
- Competition
The floor rises
Effort moves to what's new.
- Quality
Many eyes
Fewer flaws survive.
- Freedom
No lock-in
No one owns the base.
- Standards
Standards win
Open formats become the norm.
- Incentives
Good business
Open what isn't your edge.
02 · Precedents
It has worked before.
Each time, someone opened the base layer. Each time, it got better and cheaper for everyone.
- 1991
Linux started as a hobby kernel. By 2017 it ran all 500 of the fastest supercomputers.
- 2005
Arduino opened its board designs. Prototyping electronics got cheap for everyone.
- 2011
Facebook opened its data-center designs. It reported 38% less energy and 24% lower cost.
- 2024
Meta argued open AI models would become the standard, the way Linux did.
- Now
Open Product. The same idea, for how physical products are made.
03 · The incentive
Why makers would publish.
Publish what isn't your edge. Keep the new idea. Factories publish their line to win quotes. Suppliers publish their parts to get designed in. Each value can be private, embargoed or public.
04 · Honest limits
What it doesn't do.
Atoms still cost money. An OPD lowers the cost of learning. Some skill lives in hands. A file gets you close, not all the way. Every value says how we know it, so you can judge it.
05 · Where we are
Start where the last maker finished.
Plus One, our own product, is open while it's still in design. OPD-0001, the Joy-Con, is the first public release, in December 2026.