Sparkling gems and new releases from the world of Free and Open Source Software

FOSSPicks

Article from Issue 304/2026
Author(s):

Nate explores the top FOSS including the latest version of the Cinnamon desktop, a graphical ping monitoring tool, a handy subscription tracker, and a fiendish pixel logic game.

Terms and Conditions Apply

Since Qualcomm's acquisition of Arduino in October 2025, it's been quick to update its Terms and Conditions, as well as the privacy policy for its cloud and AI offerings. Adafruit Industries addressed this in a LinkedIn post (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/)that didn't pull any punches, saying that some of these changes "effectively reshape Arduino from an open community platform into a tightly controlled corporate service with deep data extraction built in."

These are harsh words, given Arduino's long tradition of publishing files detailing PCB schematics and use of open source firmware. In a blog post in late November (https://blog.arduino.cc/2025/11/21/the-arduino-terms-of-service-and-privacy-policy-update-setting-the-record-straight/), Arduino sought to assure users that only attempts to reverse engineer its SaaS applications are forbidden and that "Anything that was open, stays open." However, Adafruit founder Limor "Ladyada" Fried stated in a December post on The New Stack (https://thenewstack.io/adafruit-arduinos-rules-are-incompatible-with-open-source/), "If you go to the Arduino software page and the cloud page, you're strongly encouraged to use the cloud editor/web IDE and cloud plans … that still means the restrictions apply to the tools many new users are being steered into as their primary Arduino environment." Fried also flagged concerns about broad monitoring rights embedded in the new Terms of Service.

This story begs the question: How open can code truly be if it's shuttered by restrictive terms and conditions?

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