Post by thread:[PICLIST] Who's Number 1? was [OT]: Choice of

Hi Peter, Welcome to the wonderful world of marketeering. When I was working on the "Handbook of Microcontrollers", I tried to figure out who was Number 1 and what are the actual volumes shipped. You're never going to get an answer that everybody is happy with. If you go by total number of die starts, then its Mot. If you go by total number of devices of a single architecture built by all manufacturers, its the 8051. If you go by the total number that is sold on the open market its the Mot and PICmicro essentially neck and neck. Mot is the primary architecture used in the automotive market (which is why MChip is planning PICmicros for these applications). The PICmicro is unusual because it is the only major MCU manufacturer that does not have a captive market (other than the 200K or so they've put in development systems). The vast majority of Mot MCUs go into Mot Pagers and Cel Phones - so does this make them number one? You won't think so if you ever try to buy some. I think the big question should be is what device has the best support (including users) available, is the easiest to buy when you need some and what has the best tools? If you look at it this way, the order I would propose is PICmicro, 8051 followed by the Basic Stamp, and AVR. I don't even think Mot is on the radar scope. myke {Original Message removed}

Hi Myke, I have to agree with you that Motorola's end-user support for their MCU is not really encouraging. They tend to only go for the big fish. They never quite capitalise on the almost cult following for their HC11 among electronic hobbyist a decade ago. Pity. That's why we all luv the PIC ;-) Cheers, Peter Tiang ============================================================ {Original Message removed}