I've been using FTDI for, I don't know, twenty years. No problems at all. Also using USB solutions from other vendors (not FTDI clones). > The original FT232

I've been using FTDI for, I don't know, twenty years. No problems at all. Also using USB solutions from other vendors (not FTDI clones). > The original FT232R chips have a clocking bug that makes bitbang mode unusable for many applications, with no workaround One of the problems with this situation is that if clones are allowed to permeate the market unencumbered the manufacturer of the genuine device might not have the financial capability to address problems and continue to innovate. Every single fake chip takes revenue away from the legitimate supplier. Not arguing that your technical point isn't valid. It is. My point is that causing damage to the legitimate manufacturer by substituting their chips with clones has a non-zero non-trivial effect. Clone chip makers have zero interest and expend zero effort, time and money supporting the ecosystem they infect. All they care about is pushing their hardware and nothing else. This also causes damage to consumers because it is impossible to know what issues fake chips might bring to the table across a wide range of vectors, safety and reliability being just two of them. The better path is to take design wins away from FTDI and adopt hardware from legitimate part suppliers with solutions that meet your requirements. That's fine and that's how a healthy market works. Choosing fakes over legitimate parts hurts everyone. Today it's FTDI, tomorrow it could be your own products. Having experienced the "attack of the clones" myself, I can tell you this is not pleasant at all and it can, quite literally, destroy your company, costing jobs and your future. Not a simple problem.