SIMSON SAYS: Open Source Hardware (fwd)
Two of my coworkers have the Qualcomm phone he's speaking of. I should be
getting mine, as well as my Nokia with the IR computer hookup sometime
next week. Anybody else want to snoop hardware with me? *GRIN*
-prj
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 08:00:01 -0500
From: "Simson L. Garfinkel" <simsong@vineyard.net>
Reply-To: simsong@acm.org
To: simson-says <simson-says@vineyard.net>
Subject: SIMSON SAYS: Open Source Hardware
[editor: art is at http://simson.net/art/phones.gif]
SIMSON SAYS: Open Up the Hardware
Simson L. Garfinkel
Later this summer, the digital phone maker Qualcomm will release a new suite
of programs called the Qualcomm Phone Utilities. The suite comes with a
cable that lets you connect a Qualcomm cellular phone to any Windows-based
computer, and a set of programs that give you unprecedented control over the
phone's functions.
One of my biggest complaints about portable phones is the difficulty of
programming their phone books. Little 10-digit keypads are great for dialing
a number or two, but I prefer a full-size computer keyboard if I'm going to
type in more than few names and phone numbers. The Qualcomm Phone Utilities
solve this problem with a program called the "Speed Dial Manager." This
program lets you upload or download the 99-entry address book that every
Qualcomm phone has. You can also sort your phone book, automatically remove
all of the "1s", change area codes, and perhaps best of all, assign
different rings to different phone numbers. You can even create your own
ringers and load them into the phone!
Another program, the Qualcomm Phone Exchange, allows you to back up all of
the settings in your phone to a floppy disk, or copy them from one phone to
another. This is a very handy feature if you run a business and want to
download the same address book into all of the phones in your fleet. The
Qualcomm Phone Monitor lets you view the phone's screen and press its
buttons from your computer. Finally, the Phone Utilities comes with a
windows driver that turns a Qualcomm phone into a wireless modem. Today that
modem runs at 9600 baud, but in a year or so these same phones will be able
to pump data along at 64 kbps or even 128 kbps, just as soon as carriers
like Sprint and Bell Atlantic start to offer high-speed wireless data
services.
Qualcomm should be applauded for developing this kind of application and
bringing it to consumers. The company will also be rewarded for its effort.
Although Qualcomm's Phone Utilities should be good seller in its own right,
this program's real value to Qualcomm is that it will stimulate the sale of
Qualcomm telephones and base station equipment.
Qualcomm's software also opens up an interesting opportunity for off-hours
engineers, hobbyists, and freelance programmers. Many of these people are
sure to buy the Phone Utilities kit, eavesdrop on the communications between
the phone and the computer, and reverse engineer the commands that Qualcomm
uses to control their phone. In no time at all, we're likely to see
shareware and freeware programs that can also control Qualcomm phones. In
all likelihood, people will create programs for the Linux operating system,
the Macintosh, Palm Pilots, and even Windows CE machines. It will be far
more software than Qualcomm could have ever created on its own.
I know that this is what the future will hold, because I know at least two
engineers who want to work on these projects. The only thing that's been
holding them back is the lack of a cable and lack of published
specifications from Qualcomm.
Qualcomm isn't alone. There's not a single manufacturer of cellular
telephones that publishes the internal specifications of its telephones. One
reason is the fear of fraud: the cellular telephone systems that were
deployed in the 1980s were fundamentally unsecure. By modifying the code in
a telephone, it was possible to charge phone calls to somebody else's
telephone number, or to create a telephone scanner that could eavesdrop on
other people's telephone conversations. Indeed, nearly a decade ago a trio
of hackers, including Tsutomu Shimomura and Mark Lottor, reverse engineered
Oki's 900 cellular telephone and that could do just that. Ironically, one of
their motivations wasn't committing fraud, but creating software that would
let people upload and download telephone books into their little phones.
Another reason that manufactures haven't published their specifications in
the past is embarrassment. Much of the embedded computer systems that are
currently in the marketplace are built upon computer programs and protocols
that are poorly thought out and technically ugly. For many companies,
publishing this sort of technical information is akin to revealing their
dirty laundry.
Vendors and users in the world of computer software have been struggling
with this issue for many years now, and an interesting trend has been
emerging. Some companies, like Microsoft, continue to hold their software
secret. Both other companies have started releasing their so-called
"source-code," or the actual code that their programmers write. One company
that has opened up its source code is Netscape Communications, which last
year published the source code for the 5.0 version of Netscape Communicator.
Another company that publishes its source code is Red Hat Software, which
produces a version of the Linux operating system.
The big advantage of Open Source Software is that the users of the software
can examine it, fix the bugs, and build upon it to make it better. Open
Source Software taps the creativity and programming excellence of hundreds
thousands of programmers across the Internet --- far more engineers than
even Microsoft could hire.
The next logical step after Open Source Software is Open Source Hardware.
These days, practically every piece of consumer electronics or home
appliance comes with an embedded computer. If the makers of these products
would simply publish their software, consumer programmers could take that
software and remake the products. Working together, across the Internet,
consumer programmers could add new features and make devices like cellular
phones, digital cameras, and even bathroom scales do things that the makers
never dreamed of.
Like Open Source Software, the idea of Open Source Hardware is threatening
to many companies. But it's also powerful. It will only take a few
forward-thinking companies to start industry down the path. Let's hope that
Qualcomm is pointing the way.
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This message (C) Simson L. Garfinkel. .
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