Where are we now with the genuino/arduino mess? Any update?

[gb243]

Today I downloaded the arduino compiler and it asked for a financial donation. I know there is the community arduino (genuino outside the US) and the Italian arduino which is a single person.  How can I ensure that my donations and business only go with the community? If a board is from Europe and has the word arduino on it with the community logo is that the one to avoid?

[paulca]

Wikipedia seems to suggest the two competing companies were merged in 2016.

[gb243]

I managed to miss that obvious update. Sorry.......

[saike]

This is from a few months ago
https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/01/federico-musto-is-out-as-arduino-ceo/

[ebastler]

This is from a few months ago
https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/01/federico-musto-is-out-as-arduino-ceo/

And that saga has continued. After Musto was kicked out, Arduino AG (the company created through the prior merger of the two Arduino enemy camps) changed ownership: http://www.audioxpress.com/news/a-new-era-for-arduino-original-arduino-founders-finally-get-100-control

Allegedly all is well now, with the original founders being back in control. But I don't know -- if the Arduino boards were anywhere near as fickle as their creators, nobody would be using that platform... 

[rrinker]

 They can be. I have all sorts and never had a problem, but I've avoided the absolute rock bottom cheapest Chinese ones. Since it's all OSH... I always work in Windows so I've not had a problem with the clones that use the CH-whatever USB chip, they've all just worked. Some of the Nanos I have look a little dodgy in the assembly and soldering department, but I guess I can't expect much when I paid less for each of those than I can get an ATMega328 bare chip for. So far every one from the 10 pack I bought has worked - it was a more expensive one that had a bad solder joint on a capacitor which I only made worse in an attempt to repair - SMD and my poor vision do not mix, lighted magnifier and microscope included. I really don't know what I am going to do with 10 Nanos, other than, at a cost of about 1USD each, not worry about accidentally frying a pin or two while prototyping things.

[saike]

I bought 12 Arduino approved  boards from a well known USA company a few years ago to try and avoid any quality problems, and 50% of them failed within a few weeks with a faulty oscillator. If the quality control checks don't go right back to the component suppliers the name on the board counts for nothing.