Avalon doesn't want to become a "central mining hardware authority."
They are disappointed that BFL is such a failure. They want to have competitors.
They could help competitors by publishing their designs, but that actually tends to push competing designs out of the market, because it's cheaper to just copy Avalon.
Oh, and by the way, they claim they will open source their software. (It hasn't happened yet, though.) Why don't you ask them to make good on what they already promised?
Avalon has grown really tired of this forum's behavior (troll, off-topic, reading comprehension fail).
Avalon wouldn't be an authority if the hardware is open source for the same reason Bitcoin software is not an oligarchy. EG: If the majority of bitcoin users don't like the changes in a point release, they can choose not to upgrade but fork the project instead.
If you want to create competition quickly, business savvy start-ups with limited engeering resources could bring clones to market easily.
If competing designs get pushed out of the market, the designs weren't good enough. That's the free market at work. It doesn't matter whether the competitor is a clone or an original design. It just needs to perform as required or desired.