Slashdot Mirror
Linino-Enabled Arduino Yun Shrinks In Size and Cost
DeviceGuru writes: Arduino announced a smaller, cheaper Arduino Yun Mini version of the Arduino Yun SBC at the Bay Area Maker Faire [Friday]. The $60 Arduino Yun Mini SBC sacrifices a number of interfaces in order to reduce size, and gives the OpenWRT Linux based Linino distribution, which is also used by the original Yun, more control over the board's functions. Arduino also announced a new community web portal called my.arduino.org, plus an open source Arduino IDE-alpha development system that is entirely based on JavaScript, which will be available there by the end of the month.
Arduino SRL, formerly Smart Products, was created by one of the five original creators of Arduino. For years they produced hardware and paid royalties to Arduino.cc, helping to keep the project alive. Yet at the same time they sneakily registered the Arduino trademark in Italy without the knowledge or permission of the other co-creators. Suddenly, now that Arduino is successful and widely used, they rebranded themselves as Arduino SRL, registered the Arduino.org domain, and are promoting themselves as the creators of Arduino. They also stopped paying any royalties to Arduino.cc and have ceased supporting that project altogether.
Why is Slashdot promoting this company trying to falsely cash in on the Arduino name? I know I won't be giving them a cent. Go to the original project instead: Arduino.cc
I had never heard of Linino before, so I did a quick look. The github is maintained by Dog Hunter. Both the doghunter.org and the linino.org domains are registered to Dog Hunter, with Frederico Musto listed as its CEO. The same Mr Musto who also happens to be the CEO for Arduino SRL. I wonder if Linino was thrown together because Arduino SRL cannot legally use Arduino.cc code. Someone feel free to correct me if I am wrong....
You're conflating two things, copyright and trademark.
The source should be open, that is why the open it. So then if you want to create a MyCoolEmbeddedBoard product, you can! No problem. They're not complaining about that.
What they're complaining about is not people using their designs, but advertising it with Arduino trade name. That is reasonable. Just like, if I create some software I should make my own name, and not try to tell people is the Free Software Foundation Whatthewhat. They have a right to their own name, even after they've given away the source. Indeed, having the correct name is part of knowing where your source is from.
What they want is that when people buy a piece of Open Source Hardware that has the Arduino trademark, it is drop-in compatible and the name is properly licensed. And if you want to copy their license and not their name, then you don't need a trademark license, and you can be compatible or not. You can, for example, say on the box that it is compatible with their brand, and that you're not licensed or affiliated, as long as it is clear that you're not official. That is fair use. But you can't put their logo on your product to advertise that compatibility, or use their name in a way that makes it sound like you're licensed.
This should be obvious to anybody that has ever written software. If you have, and it isn't, please learn this shit finally. That includes anybody who would buy this stuff and call themselves a "maker."