PDI Studio 5

The dissemination of this project is to be based on three main principles. First, it will use open source software meaning all the written source code will be made available to the public online and open for individuals to edit and improve upon themselves. Second, it will be made with proprietary hardware, this will help to ensure the sustainability of this project with regards to development and redesign. Third and lastly, it shall be made non-profit using income from proprietary hardware to pay for development and server costs. The implementation of these three principles for dissemination would help to further grow the project and protect us, the owners, from being financially beaten out of competition.

Open source software is both a promising and dangerous licensing means. Open source software means that we, the owners, will make our written source code available to individuals to study, make changes to, and distribute. We would provide our code online our own site, and those who choose to manipulate the code, obliged to the same open source software terms, would upload their edited versions. This is risky because it gives competition a quick start and makes it possible for people to recreate themselves making us unnecessary in theory. This is only in theory because many people would not bother to upload the code themselves. The reason this would be beneficial for us is because we do not have any skilled coders on our development team. Brooke and Jason are both dual majors in mechanical engineering and product, design, and innovation and Brittany is a dual major in communications and product, design, and development. By making our code open source we will allow people with a more advanced skill set in coding to improve our project and make it a better experience for the users.

Using the protection of a patent we could ensure proprietary hardware. Proprietary hardware means that the interface of a computer hardware is controlled solely by the proprietor. With that said this is to be a non profit product meaning that the educational technology will not be made primarily to conduct profit. We would sell our hardware on our own private website for credit card purchases. We would also sell our hardware on Amazon starting by selling as an individual, which costs ninety nine cents per sale plus some other selling fees but limits sales to forty items or fewer a month. If sales exceeded these limitations we would sell our product on amazon as a professional. This plan would entail unlimited sales for $39.99 a month plus other selling fees. The purpose for the sale of the hardware is to use the income from the proprietary hardware to pay for development and server costs. The price of an individual product will be based accordingly to these costs and adjusted both up and down as those costs change. Through the use of open source software, proprietary hardware, and a non-profit product the sustainability of this educational technology is hoped to be maintained.