The logical thinking is: are they going to make me dependent on some cloud servi...

jack_tripper · 2025-12-15T09:05:30 1765789530

>The logical thinking is: are they going to make me dependent on some cloud service to develop for Arduino?

The logic to me is "how can they do that?". You don't need a cloud service to program a microcontroller and they can't force that upon you even if they'd want to since the arduino board is not an iPhone.

ethbr1 · 2025-12-15T11:59:45 1765799985

> "how can they do that?"

License future important libraries only for use via their cloud toolchain?

Stop contributing support to non-cloud toolchain and/or intentionally break it?

Slip more restrictive licensing into new easy to use features (like a vision service) that taint combined products?

Never underestimate a company's ability to pay lawyers to restrict freedom.

1718627440 · 2025-12-16T09:58:37 1765879117

The issue with that is that they don't even own the (exclusive) rights to "their" libraries. They are nothing more than a package repository.

jack_tripper · 2025-12-15T13:58:10 1765807090

How? Libraries are all open source by the community. Arduino AVR doesn't need proprietary microcode to boot= and run.

nottorp · 2025-12-15T14:23:47 1765808627

Last Arduino I worked with is one of those ARMs that pretend they're an AVR, for example.

stephen_g · 2025-12-15T22:27:30 1765837650

They could very much force it on you, for new units at least - depending on what micro is on the boards, they could potentially very easy start shipping them with locked bootloaders (and disabled JTAG/SWD porrts) that would only run binaries that are signed by them.

They could potentially have their software load a unexpectedly re-flash existing units with a locked bootloader too, it would just be harder to keep the key secret (because the tool flashing the new bootloader on the first time would need to know it)

1718627440 · 2025-12-16T10:03:18 1765879398

How the hell would such a thing still suitable for development, which is what their primary use case is now?

vasco · 2025-12-15T09:00:08 1765789208

They can't do that. Maybe they can launch new versions later where they lock it down, but then we will just use something else.

1718627440 · 2025-12-15T09:20:43 1765790443

The latter is what this discussion is about. Will future Arduino released things still be usable for our means, or do we need to ditch them.

nottorp · 2025-12-15T11:36:48 1765798608

Yep, it's fine to not consider future versions when you do say hobby projects, but I worked on a commercial Arduino based project that's supposed to run on top of poles on solar. For that I very much care if they plan to make it cloud dependent... and I don't assume sanity on part of management.

1718627440 · 2025-12-15T11:39:43 1765798783

> I worked on a commercial Arduino based project

Me too.

jack_tripper · 2025-12-15T13:58:44 1765807124

What product?

1718627440 · 2025-12-15T15:14:20 1765811660

Essentially a TCP/IP based pager for the event industry.

nottorp · 2025-12-15T16:08:58 1765814938

Mine is even more boring - and on hold - but it’s reading data from some sensors and sends it over NB-IoT to a server.

1718627440 · 2025-12-15T16:43:02 1765816982

> and on hold

Due to the Qualcomm issue, or something else? I'm working for a small company, so we will likely just ignore it.

nottorp · 2025-12-15T17:17:54 1765819074

No no. Customer got acquired the 32th time (been working for them for a long time occasionally) and they’re “reevaluating the ongoing projects.”