3 ms·

The patent language would worry me a lot. It would be tough to have to admit, up front, "even if this widget becomes popular I can never build a business on it.

by nyeah 11mo ago

The patent language would worry me a lot. It would be tough to have to admit, up front, "even if this widget becomes popular I can never build a business on it." But I'm not using Arduino, so idk.

phoehne 11mo ago
The cool thing about an Arduino is you can just buy the boards and use them in a commercial product. This isn't something you can do with other boards. Some people have said the license requires you to disclose your firmware, but that's not the way I read it and I've never heard of anyone being compelled to release anything (unless they modify any GPL covered code). Not all platforms give you the right to do this. For example, if you buy a dev board from STM - it's only licensed for research and development. Also, because you might want to continue to sell the same thing for years, and the board designs were open-sourced, you could buy the same part for years and years. So you can continue to sell your CNC kit that uses an Mega 2560 without worrying about Arduino coming after you or that they'd discontinue that part.
- nyeah 11mo ago
  Has Qualcomm changed that?
  - phoehne 11mo ago
    Not in the short while since they've purchased Arduino, but I could see them restricting the licensing for commercial use, while keeping it freely usable for education. Like STM.
exasperaited 11mo ago
> "even if this widget becomes popular I can never build a business on it. With the exception of a handful of applications for their higher-end boards, I would think most of this flotilla of ships has already sailed, just on a cost basis? Especially lately. So much more choice.
- deleted 11mo ago
  [deleted]
- nyeah 11mo ago
  There's believing Arduino isn't useful for anything serious. And that might be true, I don't know. But then there's buying the company and making sure it isn't good for anything serious. It's that second part that confuses me.

by nyeah 11mo ago

The patent language would worry me a lot. It would be tough to have to admit, up front, "even if this widget becomes popular I can never build a business on it." But I'm not using Arduino, so idk.

phoehne 11mo ago

The cool thing about an Arduino is you can just buy the boards and use them in a commercial product. This isn't something you can do with other boards. Some people have said the license requires you to disclose your firmware, but that's not the way I read it and I've never heard of anyone being compelled to release anything (unless they modify any GPL covered code). Not all platforms give you the right to do this. For example, if you buy a dev board from STM - it's only licensed for research and development. Also, because you might want to continue to sell the same thing for years, and the board designs were open-sourced, you could buy the same part for years and years. So you can continue to sell your CNC kit that uses an Mega 2560 without worrying about Arduino coming after you or that they'd discontinue that part.

nyeah 11mo ago
Has Qualcomm changed that?
- phoehne 11mo ago
  Not in the short while since they've purchased Arduino, but I could see them restricting the licensing for commercial use, while keeping it freely usable for education. Like STM.

exasperaited 11mo ago

> "even if this widget becomes popular I can never build a business on it. With the exception of a handful of applications for their higher-end boards, I would think most of this flotilla of ships has already sailed, just on a cost basis? Especially lately. So much more choice.

deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
nyeah 11mo ago
There's believing Arduino isn't useful for anything serious. And that might be true, I don't know. But then there's buying the company and making sure it isn't good for anything serious. It's that second part that confuses me.