How can hardware engineers get paid for their work if they open up their designs for free?
LV: Just like the advent of free software did not remove the demand for people who are able to create new software, Open Hardware will not destroy the market for hardware design services. What will become harder, just like it is in the software world now, is to make money by doing the exact same thing over and over again. If you try to do that, you will be out-competed by someone who just uses the existing, and freely available, design, or by someone who actually innovates. Some of the less skilled and less innovative hardware designers might be forced to improve their skills and ingenuity to be able to compete. But that is how a market is supposed to work.
