[rc55]

I have felt for a long time that Raspberry Pi would be something far beyond the scope of education and could well be re-purposed as a super-economical Arduino equivalent, complete with its own ecosystem of add-on boards, enclosures, power supplies and applications.

Could I see myself getting at least one? Most definitely. I'd pay double for what it offers, and all my hacker friends agree. There's so much we'd love to dig into, set-top boxes, surveillance, emulation and gaming, jukeboxes, audio synthesis, demoscene productions... it's just a fantastic platform I can't wait to get my hands on.

I think they may well deliver on this regardless of any scepticism, although over time it will be at least exciting to see what kind of community is developed.

My only slight concern is whether it will encroach on Broadcom's business too much, perhaps they will constrain orders to set amounts so commercial applications are prohibited, or at least artificially constrained and referred further up the supply chain. That said, it does open up the market more for a similar device.

I do appreciate the fact it is a relatively static specification though - write once, run everywhere is a great place to be.