Arduino The Documentary. How open source hardware became cheap and fun

Jan. 8, 2011 (12:01 pm) By: Matthew Humphries

Open source software has had a major impact on the applications and platforms we all use today. Linux is now a very viable alternative to Windows and Mac OS even for beginner PC users. The Android operating system looks set to dominate on mobile hardware, and more and more software applications are being released for free as open source projects by anyone who can learn to program.

Now the same looks set to happen for hardware. With the development of cheap, easy to use electronics components as part of the Arduino computing platform, it's becoming much easier to create your own hardware solutions without spending a lot of money.