Sun isn't alone in pursuing the idea of open source silicon. For example, a Web site called Opencores.org (http://opencores.org/) hosts open source core designs that can be incorporated into a variety of chips. The OpenSparc T1 is the most ambitious open source hardware project to date, however, being the only one to offer a complete, modern microprocessor design for community development.

What can the community do with such a resource? Well, for one thing, collaborative development can potentially isolate and eliminate flaws in the processor design, such as the notorious floating-point division bug (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_FDIV_bug) that plagued the early Pentiums. But the most valuable thing about OpenSparc is that it allows third parties to create specialized variants of the T1 that serve specific niche applications.

The first such product appeared in early September, from a company called Simply RISC' (http://www.srisc.com/). The S1 Core processor is based on Sun's T1 but with just one processor core instead of the T1's eight. Where the T1 is ideal for high-end servers, the S1 Core is targeted at embedded systems. And it, too, is open source.

These are developments the industry should watch closely. As hardware design increasingly moves toward specialized chips for a variety of purposes, such as handhelds, routers, and video-game consoles, open source silicon could be an idea whose time has come. Broader participation in the component design process can welcome new competitors into the market and lower the barrier to entry for innovative ideas. When that happens, customers can only benefit.