Arduino
is an "open source physical computing platform based on a simple microcontroller board". It is also a "development environment for writing software for the board" (Source: Arduino.cc). The first Arduino was born in 2005 in the classrooms of Interactive Design Institute in Ivrea, Italy. A nice presentation which shows a timeline of "how Arduino came to be" can be found here.Arduino has been a very successful concept and creation. Ten years on, it has become one of, if not, the most popular prototyping and development platforms in the world. It has found it's way into the hearts of many makers, artists, programmers, developers and inventors. It has been used for millions of projects: from automatic garage door openers and tea makers to flamethrowers, robots, lighting displays and sound production. In fact, I cannot think of anything that the Arduino hasn't been used for.
But as you are pretty well aware, there has been a recent rift between the original founders of Arduino.
There is no need to go over the details here because it has been covered many times already on other sites. But if you would like to get up to speed on the Arduino Trademark dispute, I would suggest you read the following articles:
1) Massimo Banzi's interview on Make
2) Federico's letter to the makers on Arduino.org
3) Court Transcripts from the United States Courts Archive
4) What's in a name: The battle for the soul of Arduino - on ZD Net
5) Arduino vs Arduino: Part II on Hackaday
My Letter to Arduino LLC/SRL
Why can't you get along? Why the deception? Why the greed?
Who does this benefit? It is a lose-lose battle, not only for Arduino SRL/LLC but for the whole Arduino community. We all love Arduino. We love the idea, the mission and the dream. We like to make things... We don't care who "the original" Arduino was or is. It doesn't matter. We just want...
We don't want different versions of the Arduino IDE (1.6.3 vs 1.7.0).
Some may say that you should redo the IDE altogether, but that is an entirely different topic :)
Can't you see what this is doing?
It is hard enough for tutorial makers and forum dwellers to keep up with the ever evolving IDE as it is. Making two different versions of the "same IDE" adds about 10 layers of confusion and complexity ! And for what ??? This will be confusing for the newbie, confusing for the helpers, the developers, for everyone.
I am guessing that my words will have no influence over your decisions. But I hope it does !
I plee with both of you to stand by your infinity symbol and work through your differences. Say what you need to say, but get back together and regroup - as ONE ARDUINO.
Your rift is likely to reverberate through to the Arduino Community aswell. Some people will side with Arduino LLC, some with Arduino SRL. And while some people will take a stance of indifference, there will be some that just look elsewhere.
I don't know if revealing the results of my poll will benefit the cause or add salt to the wounds, But I asked the question, and you probably want to know the answer. Who does the Arduino Community support right now?
The infographic below shows the results of the poll I posted a week ago:
This poll was posted on the Arduino Tutorial Google+ community page . I tried to be as unbiased as possible. People were only allowed to vote once (enforced by log in). Each voter would have been presented with the organisations in random order. And results were not published until now. The results above are accurate as of 14th April 2015 at 9am (in Australia)
As you can clearly see, Arduino LLC is highly favoured.
My personal preference is not captured by that infographic. I agree with the bald engineer, I would prefer #OneArduino. I would like the Arduino Community to stand united. I also want the Arduino founders to stand united! Please, work through your issues, stop being greedy and stop the deception. Arduino is more than a product. It is the heart of a greater movement.
Scott C
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