Record-Seeking Bloodhound SSC Goes Partially Open Source 64
jd writes "I've been monitoring the progress of Bloodhound SSC (the car aiming for the 1,000 MPH record) and it looks like they're opting for some interesting tactics. In April, the car itself went partially open source, with a complete set of schematics and specifications and an invite for engineering bugfixes. According to them, it's the first time a racing team has done this. Sounds likely enough. The latest patches to be released were a tripling in fin size and a switch to steel brakes because carbon fibre would explode."
I just dont get it (Score:2, Funny)
I don't really get this "Open Source" thing. Could somebody help explain with a car analogy? That usually helps.
Re:I just dont get it (Score:4, Funny)
Well, the car is jet-powered. As you may know, jet engines require large amount of air to operate, that's why they work better at higher speeds, and don't work at all outside the atmosphere.
To get this large amount of air into the engine, you need to keep the front side of the engine open. It's not hard to imagine that the more open the front side is, the more air will get in, and the more efficient the engine will be.
So, for years, engineers (you know, people who build engines) have tried to build jet engines to be as open as possible. Traditionally, this was only limited to the literal sense of the word "open". However, in recent years, when the word "literally" also begun to mean "not literally", they started exploring other, less literal ways to make the engines more open. So when jet engine engineers heard talk about Open Source, they thought it's about making the air source more open. And here we are now, with jet-engine-builders trying to get more into their engines by using open source.