Not only that, but the popularity of the ecosystem opens up the feasibility of projects that would otherwise not be considered. As a professional embedded syst

Not only that, but the popularity of the ecosystem opens up the feasibility of projects that would otherwise not be considered. As a professional embedded systems engineer, I'm not the "ideal Arduino customer." But having the arduino ecosystem available means that I can build a one-off for a client in a matter of minutes when it would otherwise take days or weeks. That means I become the "embedded mercenary" that they like and want to hire again :-)