Why the Arduino Won and Why It’s Here to Stay

“In about a week, a rep from a large chip company is going to
stop by and show me another “Arduino-like platform,” aka The
Arduino Killer. This a pretty regular occurrence around here; every
month or so there’s a company or person who wants to make the “next
Arduino.” They usually contact me because I’ve covered the Arduino
for years, helped get it in the maker world, and I use it daily in
my work at Adafruit. I think it’s had an amazing impact on
electronic hobbyists and artists, perhaps as much as the personal
computer in the early days (Homebrew Computer Club, etc). There are
more than 100,000+ Arduinos on the market, and by my estimates, a
lot more when you add in the derivatives (approximately 150K as of
2/2011). Within the next 5 to 10 years, the Arduino will be used in
every school to teach electronics and physical computing —
that’s my prediction. There’s no going back.

“Most of the time these Arduino-Killer brain-picking sessions
end with well wishing, a list of things to consider if they want to
kick Arduino in the pants, and that’s that — they usually
never really do it. There are a few articles about Arduino, with
some great history, but I want to address why it appears to have
“won.””

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