> I have a friend who is reasonably knowledgeable on industry 
> directions 
> and every time I send him any Microchip 'ra ra' material, while he is 
> heavily committed in other areas, he recites the same basic mantra - 
> ie 'ARM is it, the whole world is going to ARM, the future is an ARM 
> future, those who are not already on the ARM bandwagon are in danger 
> of missing the future, ...' .
> 
> Thoughts?

I can agree with him for the higher-end applications. Compare an ARM and
a bigger 18F or even a dsPIC. But I've yet to see an ARM chip for simple
applications for < $1 @ 10, and I see no cheap (<$5) DIP RAM chips (in
fact none at all, but there are DIP modules with ARM chips, but they are
not cheap). 

As industrial guys you might say 'who needs DIPs'? The answer is: todays
students, which will be your tomorrow programmers.

Another issue is availability. ARMs are available from different
vendors, most of which are much larger than Mircochip, which is good
because they won't disappear overnight, but also bad because they have
much more on their mind than just their ARM chips. Compare to the
situation with AVRs.

Wouter van Ooijen

-- -------------------------------------------
Van Ooijen Technische Informatica: www.voti.nl
consultancy, development, PICmicro products
docent Hogeschool van Utrecht: www.voti.nl/hvu
 


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