

Microchip proposes prize for open sourcing "their" proprietary libraries - angusgr
http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2011/09/07/microchip-responds/

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rphlx
Or we could just use an AVR or Cortex-M3 with already-open tools.

The 1990s called; they want their crappy non-free embedded toolchain back.

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bradfa
I'm not that familiar with the M3, but some of the PIC chips have much more
expansive hardware interfaces and internals than comparable AVR parts. A lot
of times, PIC chips are cheaper, too.

Microchip can't develop the libraries internally due to contracts (it sounds
like) so they're appealing to the community to bring them up to speed. They're
offering compensation in the form of prizes. Why be negative on their attempt?
They're trying to do the "right thing," granted, later than others, but still,
it's a move in the direction the community wants them to go. Don't be negative
about people trying to do the "right thing."

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pingswept
I think you're giving Microchip too much credit. They say that contractually
they "can’t release [their] existing stacks", not that they can't port other
open source stacks to their hardware, or develop their own from scratch.

I agree with you that they're trying to do the right thing, more or less.
(Speaking for myself, not the OP,) the reason for the negative reaction is
that they're touting their kit as "open source" when it's not, after a long
history of proprietary development. If they had lived up to their claims from
the start, I think the reaction would have been entirely positive.

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0x12
I'm amazed that a company the size of microchip would actually respond in a
non-flippant manner to something 'some guy' wrote on his blog.

[http://dangerousprototypes.com/2011/08/30/editorial-our-
frie...](http://dangerousprototypes.com/2011/08/30/editorial-our-friend-
microchip-and-open-source/)

~~~
angusgr
Dangerous Prototypes are pretty well-known in the OSH/Maker scene, I wouldn't
call them "some guy". More importantly, adafruit ran it on their blog which
means it saw an even wider audience.

With ChipKIT, Microchip are undoubtedly trying to get a piece of the market
that Arduino currently dominates.

They seem to understand that open tools/libraries is a factor there, but it
seems they can't actually do too much about it.

They also seem to understand that community is a major factor in Arduino's
success. I took that response to be a sign they are trying that, too.

Whether they'll succeed, I don't know. The market seems pretty flush with
Arduino clones, copies and equivalents now. IMHO this article, "The End of the
Open Hardware Cambrian Age", has some good theories about where things are
headed: [http://antipastohw.blogspot.com/2010/12/end-of-open-
source-h...](http://antipastohw.blogspot.com/2010/12/end-of-open-source-
hardware-cambrian.html)

