6 years, 8 months ago.

Will Mbed Studio be open source?

I notice many references to the open source components that Mbed Studio will be using, but no mention of Mbed Studio itself being open source. It's difficult to answer sensibly the many questions like "Why not Keil?" and similar ones without knowing whether Mbed Studio will be open source, since it is one of the most important factors to consider. If it won't then it has the same disadvantages as proprietary tools, and becoming dependent on it will be unwise.

The many offshoots from the open source Arduino project, like the very popular Energia IDE for simple TI LaunchPad-based embedded development, gain strong traction from their open source status. The use of Eclipse for more advanced embedded work is similarly very popular, although its complexity does invite packaging up Eclipse in the way that Mbed Studio is doing. However, any advantages from being based on the open source Eclipse would vanish if Mbed Studio is itself closed source, so we need to know its license status.

A clear statement about licensing would be a useful accompaniment to the next Mbed Studio announcement.

Morgaine.

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