[skybrian]

Even if you like the Arduino programming environment (and I do), there seems to be little reason to use Arduino hardware unless it’s for compatibility with other hardware you have? For example, there is a very nice unofficial port of Arduino for the Raspberry Pi Pico. There are also many fine Arduino-compatible single-board computers from Adafruit. The Arduino board form factor seems big and clunky in comparison.

I don’t even use the Ardiuino IDE anymore; I've switched to VS Code using PlatformIO.

It’s great that all these microcontroller boards and peripheral breakout boards can be programmed using the same basic API’s, but I don’t think it helps Arduino the company very much.

[ssl-3]

There's a wealth of easy projects that a person can get started with using an Arduino.

Without any opportunities for getting bogged down in anything extra at all, they can follow a simple recipe and quickly begin to blink an LED at the rate of their choosing.

The Arduino was developed to be a teaching tool, and it allows for a person to take little baby steps.

(Whether this placement is good or bad for Arduino as a business entity isn't something that I find particularly important.)

[skybrian]

Blinking an LED is what you do for "hello world" on every microcontroller board I've tried. The Arduino IDE supports boards from many different manufacturers.