I still don't understand what is defined as an 'Arduino'?
Is that just the whole board (like a UNO, or Mega) and the shape, or is that just when you use the Arduino IDE?
Like myself, I have seen companies using just the IDE.
It saves a lot of time, because you don't have to go into all kinds of datasheets to figure out which registers etc you need.
There are also so many libraries and examples available which are great to start from.
If we are talking about the whole design and board, I also agree that an Arduino is far from a finished professional product.
I only don't agree with the fact that open source can't be professional at all.
There is no reason you can't make an open source design according to all EMI, EMC and safety standards.
The fact that you don't see these kinds of products (take a SMPS for example), doesn't mean it's not possible.
I think it means that most open source projects are done in spare time and as an hobby and therefore people naturally can't be bothered by all these regulations.
Most open source projects (with all the respect) are not much more than some simple add-on modules.
I haven't seen one open source project that was completely done from head to toe (like power supply, proper interface, connectors etc)
Although I really like the idea of open source hardware and software, this is also exactly the point I have problems with it.
In my opinion many (hardware & software!) projects are very far from finished as a professional product.
Absolutely not ready for the bigger audience because it simply is to much of an hassle with manual tweaks, tuning and even programming.
It just simply doesn't work out of the box (plus most interfaces and GUIs are just really really
)
A lot of people don't seemed to be bothered about it, but for a lot of other people they don't have the know how or time for it.
90% of the products I need to use on a regular basis don't work out of the box on Linux.
This is the mean reason I am not going to move to Linux as a main system (I only use it for smaller applications).
In my opinion the open source community really needs to put more focus on finished products instead!
A few posts back, Karel has a few good points about why it's more practical to make open source software easier than hardware.
I'm not quiet sure if that's all true. I mean, a lot of people have enough gear (at home or at work) to do all these tests anyway.
That being said, those tests are not very easy to do, and even developing stuff that is made according to all EMC/EMI and safety rules is not an easy task.
A lot of EE don't even know about all these regulations.