• Qualcomm To Buy Arduino

    From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to comp.misc on Wed Oct 8 00:14:37 2025
    From Newsgroup: comp.misc

    Arduino, the company known for its open-source microcontoller hardware
    and software, is being swallowed up by Qualcomm <https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/arduino-retains-its-brand-and-mission-following-acquisition-by-qualcomm/>,
    giving rise to the inevitable concerns about whether this might mean
    an end to the companyrCOs open-source ethos.

    Qualcomm denies having any plans for this, of course. But things could
    easily change in 6-12 months, or even next week.

    Quote:

    Arduino's commitment to open-source hardware and software could
    help keep that from happening, though. Third parties are all
    currently capable of manufacturing and selling their own
    Arduino-compatible productsrCothe Arduino name is reserved for the
    company's official releases, but there are plenty of compatible
    ones with "-duino" suffixes out thererCoand if the community around
    the controllers and boards gets mad enough, it could attempt to
    fork the hardware and software to provide an alternative to
    whatever direction Qualcomm takes.

    See, thererCOs an obvious starting point: what if Qualcomm starts
    claiming that names ending with rCL-duinorCY are too close to the
    rCLArduinorCY trademark, and third parties must cease and desist from
    using such names?

    That would be the smallest and simplest start of the slippery slope
    ...
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