ST did not do much on the software, tool and community side lately. The Atmel ATmega processor, which has been well accepted by the open source in Arduino moves ST to this subsidizing PR and marketing approach.
An interesting example how influential open source can get and how careful a chip company has to be with the overall system of the product, not only the silicon.
I ordered 2 from them last night, right after I saw the OP and before there were any comments here. I figured at that price they were well worth experimenting with.
