Comment by serbuvlad
7 days ago
While that is true, both Espressif and the Pico have their own SDKs, and they're really well written too.
The Arduino SDK is the simplest to use, sure, but the Pico framework (I don't have experience with the Espressif one) is extremely good, and the Pico's PIO is a godsend. I used it to implement 3 wire SPI (data bidirectional on the same wire) at almost 'real-time', which is to say, at half the speed of the hardware SPI controller (half the speed because the interface clock is put up one cycle and down the next; this also gives enough time for data shuffling).
Why does the Arduino SDK necessitate a huge markup on Arduino boards, when $0 of every computer I buy to run Linux on goes to GCC?
Just because most of the free software ecosystem relies on unpaid volunteer work does not mean it is a desirable state of affairs, especially with billion dollar companies building on top of said work while hardly contributing anything back.
While that is true, if Espressif and the Raspberry Pi Foundation can build their SDKs and still offer cheap chips/boards, so could Arduino.
I'm not expecting a $0 markup, but Arduino prices are simply unreasonable for what they offer, especially if you live in a lower income country.
Both Espressif and Raspberry pi (pico) target OEMs who will buy millions of their chips. They've both embraced the hobbyist market as well, but it's not how they've recouped their investment.
Arduino targets the hobyist market where customers will buy one (or at best a handful) of their boards. Arduino simply has no other way of recouping their investment than selling expensive hardware.
So I don't think it's fair to say that Arduino is being greedy. Also FWIW, Espressif's official dev boards are also pretty expensive. Not Arduino expensive, but several times the price of identical "clones" based on the same reference design and using the same official esp32 module.
If you think the price is unreasonable, don't buy. You have listed what you seem to think are better options. I agree that there are better options. If somebody else wants to spend their money in different ways than I do, let them. If Arduino thinks they can make money this way, let them try. If it works, good for them, I guess. If it fails, I guess the joke will be on Qualcomm. Honestly, Arduino could slash their price to be $1 less than a Milk-V Duo and I'd still by the Duo. If the Arduino was $1 less than an ESP32, I'd still by the ESP32. So I'm not sure lowering prices wouldn't just hurt them.
1 reply →
Branding power. Precisely why brand drugs continue to make money over fist for pharmaceutical companies even after patents expire.
> Precisely why brand drugs continue to make money over fist for pharmaceutical companies even after patents expire.
Generics may have the same active ingredient but (vastly) different pharmacokinetics - i.e. different absorption rates/retention in the body. For basic stuff such as painkillers that's one thing, but for more sensitive medication such as insulin, antidepressants or anything related to the cardiovascular system (heart rate, blood pressure and clotting) one has to be very careful when switching between brands.
[dead]