open-product-manifesto

A work-in-progress declaration of principles and properties that real and virtual goods should strive for.

19th century technology resulted in the industrial revolution, the power of machines to substituting for the power of men and animals, resulting in the ability of manufacturing goods through mass production. Now, in the 21st century, information technology permeates society, giving each individual access to the combined knowledge of humanity. It is time to apply this knowledge and new technology to fix some of the intrinsic disadvantages of mass production.

Globalized mass production

• is extremely cost driven
  • disproportionate focus on manufacturing cost vs. lifetime cost
  • results in waste through incentive to manufacture single-use products
• hides non-economic manufacturing factors
  • environmental impact
  • working conditions
  • political corruption

No Artificial Restrictions

A product should be usable for it's intended purpose without artificial restrictions. The intended purpose for the user, that is, not whatever the manufacturer intended.

A product should be repairable with the minimum number of specialty tools, all of which should be accessible to the general public.

Use of anti-tamper mechanisms, such as special screws, should not be used to prevent layman repairs, unless opening the product is dangerous to unskilled laypersons (high voltage, high pressure, etc).

Design Principles

For traditional mass production, per-unit cost is the strongest driving force, and minor manufacturing cost savings that disproportionally reduce lifetime utility of a product are routinely implemented to maximize profits, but often impose unforeseeable, and/or unreasonable burdens on the users.

Instead of minimizing cost, the design should focus on maximizing the efficient use of non-renewable resources, utility and life time of a product.

The focus should be on:

• Usability
  • Interoperability
    • Open Standards
  • (Accessibility)
• Maintainability
• Upgradability / Modularity
  • Extensibility
• Reusability
  • Longevity
  • Robustness
• Recyclability
  • Resource Efficiency