But What About The ASIAir Series?

You may have noticed, when reading my “Learn” page, a conspicuous absence in the image-acquisition recommendations. The ZWO ASIAir series of on-scope computers are designed to drastically simplify setup and operation of deep-sky imaging rigs, and are very popular.

So why don’t I recommend them? Well, my reasons are largely philosophical, and involve the often-fraught word “open”.

For one thing, ZWO wants you to buy their products, not any competitor’s. So they make the ASIAir series dead-nuts-simple to use with ZWO hardware, and difficult to impossible with many others. It’s not an immoral or illegal strategy by any means, but it’s one I simply choose not to support.

Secondly, and more seriously, my opinion is that ZWO have made use of GNU-licensed open-source software in the Air series, without complying with those licenses’ requirements — specifically, that anything incorporating that software must itself by made available as open source. I don’t know if they didn’t think anyone would care, didn’t think enforcement was possible, or just thought that people who refrain for moral reasons from helping themselves to “free” things are chumps. Or I suppose I could just be totally wrong.

In any case, as a software developer myself, this kind of thing hits pretty close to home. I don’t think anything less of anyone who buys these products, I just set a personal boundary against doing so myself, or recommending that anyone else do so. Don’t believe me — do some Web searching and see what you think.