ICYMI - The “Arduinos” have begun to resolve their differences, and have attempted to start the process of merging the unnecessarily fractured software platform by releasing a new version of the Arduino IDE software - namely Arduino IDE 1.8.0.

arduino.org announcement: New IDE for all Arduino boards! (archived version from archive.org)

arduino.cc announcement: NEW IDE FOR ALL ARDUINO BOARDS!

​It is a minor step in the right direction to removing some of the confusion surrounding all of the strangeness that both parties have exhibited over the last couple of years. However, there is a long way to go.

Anyway, on December 23rd, 2016, the “Arduinos” released a somewhat-merged IDE. (OK, so instead they compromised on a few things, and kept the “.CC” repository as the main repo.)

They bumped the version from 1.6.x (on the “.CC” side), and 1.7.x (on the “.ORG” side), to 1.8.0 – This should end the confusion about the software versions. They also added support for both the “.CC” and “.ORG” hardware.

While this has been an interesting development in the Arduino ecosphere, there is still very little information on what is happening with the rest of the supposed merger. Since the news of the settlement, there has been no other news, as far as I could find. My only comment on this is that the involved parties need to be more open about what is happening with what was, at one time, an open source software project.

Link to the Hackaday article on the settlement announcement

Because of my involvement with the software and hardware with the “Arduinos” and Wiring, I sincerely hope that 2017 will be a significantly better year than the previous ones.

So, happy new year! Is this a step in the right direction?