I've had a bad experience with Linear's TimerBlox ICs, the LTC6994-2, and don't know why anyone would use one, over a microcontroller. Two of them failed, out of a batch of 180. They weren't run at excessive temperatures, they were operated well within their ratings and none of their inputs or outputs were connected to the outside world, but to other logic gates and comparators, run off the same stable 5V rail. It was not my design, but that of an external contractor, before I joined the company.