Alden Hart wrote:
> Vitaly - I do hope you are right that Microchip will offer the compiler
> for free (or at least at a very low price). Microchip is losing ground
> fast to chip families that have well supported open source and free
> compiler options - just look at the Atmel and the Arduino phenomenon,
> Texas Instruments MSP340 to name two. As I work on projects that I want
> to open source, I have a hard time putting a PIC out there.

Alden, my comments are pure speculation. I don't know what Microchip's 
intent is, but they seem to be pricing dev tools at or below cost. They are 
not in the business of selling dev tools, they're in the business of selling 
silicon. Microchip seems to understand better than the other companies that 
providing integrated solutions (as opposed to relying on third party tool 
providers) makes business sense.

Regarding the Arduino phenomenon, what kind of volumes are we talking about? 
Tens of thousands?


> Please, please correct me if I've missed some OS compiler option, but I
> have not found it, at least or the larger chips.

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. They do offer free compilers (C18 and 
C30). They're not "free" in the open source sense, but as a hobbyist you 
don't have to pay to use them.

VItaliy 

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