my activity on this site has been low for the past year as i have been up to my ears with starting a business and developing a few products for us to sell . I would encourage anyone reading this to take a good long look at my profile so as to understand my background and my history with the diydrones community .
As most are aware , the only true constant in life is change . However the rate of change would appear to be on the uprise . most of us at this point either have lost our jobs or at least know someone who has . This in turn has a ripple effect on the economy , not just as a whole but an individuals economy . The effects of the present state of the economy have been effecting the world of open source . this can be demonstrated very easily by noting Blogs such as Chris's "update on product availability " , the disappearance of projects such as open pilot (I've been trying to contact the team with no success and the latest activity was back in June . if anyone has more info please let me know.). Lets face it , its hard to develop complicated machinery with no capital.
the future of open source autopilots are not guaranteed . as with everything in life open source autopilots are going to have to change or die . OSAP (open source autopilots) have been facing many problems from all sides .
These include but not limited to government regulations , inter-OSAP competition , bad economy , "race to the bottom" mentality , "open source = no $" mentality , no single self regulation entity (AMA for UAVs),and many other fears and misconception held by the public at large and OSAP developers.
The question at hand is this : how can OSAPs change so as not to die ?
I believe the answer is to draw from the strengths that both "open source" and "commercial" auto pilots enjoy
#1 co-operation . as individuals we will be broken one by one , If we join forces we can be unstoppable
#2 commercial viability . the most successful open source projects have commercial applications . no income = no output.
#3 self regulation . Ive been told directly from FAA officials and can be read here ARC.pdf . we have to self regulate or the government will be stepping in .
#4 we , as a whole , need to stop making decisions based on fear . logic yes , fear no
Comments
thanks,yes i will be producing kits. i started a blog for it here
thank you for the compliment ! its been a lot of blood , sweat and tears .
my apologies to open pilot . i went there the other day and found most links to be dead . must have been down for maintenance . very glade to see this is not the case. ;-)
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No worries. Just wanted to make sure you know that the project is very much alive. :)
#3 self regulation . Ive been told directly from FAA officials and can be read here ARC.pdf . we have to self regulate or the government will be stepping in .
#4 we , as a whole , need to stop making decisions based on fear . logic yes , fear no
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I'm no businessman, but I'm no box of rocks. I agree with these last statements 100%, but can you provide links to guidance in these areas? While many times fear will save you from a hefty ticket when logic tells you it's safe to fly in an open area, is there currently a body of self-governance that we can participate in?
Just keep it up !
thanks for the link .
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