Qualcomm has started enshitification of Arduino
New Terms of Service introduce perpetual content licenses, reverse-engineering bans, and widespread data collection.
welp, I have sent a form letter back to them with the deletion of all my accounts. Stating that I do not agree to the terms and am no longer hosting or providing code for these items and not giving them any license to any code or projects before the update to said lic. I have a poke into a IP lawyer friend of mine to see what else I need to do.
We all saw this coming and its fucking sad, I hope someone new will take up the torch (again) put down by Qualcomm.
Thank you for taking decisive ethical action. I hope the example you've set will inspire others to act similarly.
Nah, fuck picking up that torch, what we need to do is burn Qualcomm to the ground. Every. Last. Brick.
Qualcomm and Arduino maintain that the acquisition will not alter the core spirit of the platform.
When has this ever been true?
New Terms of Service introduce perpetual content licenses, reverse-engineering bans, and widespread data collection.
Oh hell to the no. Please don’t use software that requires selling your soul and firstborn child.
It’s completely pointless because if you’re forbidden from understanding how it works, why use it as a learning platform? It’s a toy. A useless toy.
I think not enough people care about stuff like that. Like with reddit. Maybe some sparks of outrage here and there, but no fire. In the end even the people that don't like the change come back, because they are used to it.
I think it's not that people don't care but rather that everything is going to shit so fast, people simply don't have the energy to rage against hundreds of machines.
I thought it would enshittify but I didn't think it would begin that quickly damn. Truly unfortunate.
What's the plan now? Are there open source, compatible alternatives?
Arduino the code platform is still open source. So just don't buy an original Arduino piece of hardware, buy a clone, and don't pay for any of their subscription services.
Business as usual then
Good
Hardware:
Depends on what you mean by compatible, if you want an exact replacement for hardware just use the clones but remember that unless youre using hats (boards that plop onto eg. Arduino Uno) then you can use any other microcontroller with the caveat that some use 5v as digital io and some use 3.3v My favourites for now are Esp8266/Esp32 if i want some kind of wireless connectivity or need a bunch of ram/rom, usually in the form of seeed studio boards or clones (outputs 3.3v but is fine with 5v as input and most boards that you might want to connect to it even if they except 5v on the io will typically work with 3.3, just power them with 5v) Attiny series 1 or 2 if I'm planning to create a custom pcb and I'm fine with limited ram/rom
But these are just my preferences, a lot of people swear by the raspberry pico series or stm32
Software - IDE Platformio - more complex than arduino ide but also provides more options as its an extension for vs code
Section 7.1 grants Arduino a perpetual, irrevocable license over anything you upload. Your code, projects, forum posts, and comments all fall under this. This remains in effect even after you delete your account. Arduino retains rights to your content indefinitely.
The license is also royalty-free and sublicensable. Arduino can use your content however they want, distribute it, modify it, and even sublicense it to others.
Holy shit the title doesn't cover it by half. This is beyond disappointing enshitification, it's a red light for any future use of Arduino.
every technical product as soon they get taken over by some corp.
Pioarduino is where it's at anyway.
Isn't this a software project? What about open hardware?
The hardware was usually based around an ATMEGA328p, which you can just buy. There's also loads of clones on the internet, some with sexier designs.
Maybe I'll go back to picaxe. Or teensy.
