The world-renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking who has ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, that has slowly paralyzed him throughout the years, was finally able to convey his thoughts through speech in 1997, thanks to a computer that he developed in collaboration with Intel.

The computer that is constantly attached to Hawking through a contraption in his wheelchair has always been a technological wonder that many scientists are finding difficult to replicate. Hawking’s computer-based communication system has a source code and programming code that is guarded by the proprietary laws forged in signature by Intel, its manufacturer.

But not anymore.

Intel has decided to make this proprietary code free for everyone.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Intel announced that they are finally making the communication system as open source software, in order to help other scientists build better versions of the system.

According to Lana Nachman, Intel Labs Principal Engineer, they initially faced challenges in making improvements to the system because of the limits set by the proprietary laws. They intend to further the technology in place, and they want to give more access to the program so that more people could benefit from it.

Hawking’s computer has three parts: an infrared sensor that is connected to a sole muscle in Hawking’s cheek that transmits messages to the computer’s processing unit, a software platform that Hawking uses to navigate the interface without having to use his hands, and a text-to-speech hardware that produces Hawking’s iconic voice.

The software platform is what Hawking uses in typing out his messages. He also uses this to select from given options already programmed in the system, move a mouse, and command the computer to produce the speech output.

Nachman also said that despite the number of technological innovations today that is focused on text-to-speech functionalities, much improvement could still be done. This is the very reason why they decided to give developers free access to the software.

People can now build accompanying programs that they can add to the existing software to improve it, or they can just plug the software to something that they have previously built and consequently come up with something more useful and promising. With the open source software, Intel is predicting that it will be easier to bring similar computer systems to the market.