If there is one big example of the success of the 8 bit architecture it must be the Arduino Uno. This little development board is now 10 years on the market and the favourite choice of many makers, students and engineers who want to do a quick development. Many millions are sold. David Cuartielles designed the first Arduino board around the ATmega8 controller and he is now responsible for the website and education activities of the Arduino organisation.

'Something so easy to use and so firm...it must be successful’, explains David. ‘I always joke that you can throw it on the floor and it will continue working. I see many students beating up the board and sometimes cut off some parts to have it fit into a project...and it still works’. ‘It is the combination of factors’, David explains, ‘not only the 8 bit architecture, but also the software and the huge number of projects available on the website and the fact that it is open source. Although the hardware is relatively easy and the IDE software is compact it still is amazing how what people invent with it’.

It will be fair to say that the Arduino Uno is the number one experiment boards for students. Not only electrical engineering students but all students that want to discover interaction, measure temperature or log an event use the Arduino board. The fact that it is open source literary means that it is an open source of creativity and many new ideas...it is successful!