Angry Jesus writes:
There is a lot of snake oil in the audiophile world. A few years ago the pseudonymous NwAvGuy decided to do something about it. Not content to just criticize the hucksters, he designed a $130 headphone amp that competes with $1000 models. NwAvGuy released the design under the Creative Commons CC BY-ND license (attribution, no derivatives) and freely collaborated on revising it with multiple manufacturers looking to build and sell the amp. All he wanted was credit and to see that no one would take his design and degrade it with inferior modifications.
Then he disappeared. "In July 2012, NwAvGuy went silent. E-mails weren't returned, and blog posting ceased. 'He had gone quiet before -- for a month or so,' says Boudreau. But no one has heard a peep from NwAvGuy in more than a year and a half."
Since then some of the parts used in the last revision have been discontinued and one of the best values in high fidelity audio can't be manufactured anymore because NwAvGuy is no longer around to approve any changes.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by lil'wombat on Wednesday March 26 2014, @03:02AM
How enforceable is an electronic design under CC ND? Can I change some components? Adjust a layout? There are not any patents involved, the basics are known, so what is required to avoid the derivative label?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @06:26AM
Well, the only person who could enforce it at all apparently disappeared ...