Greetings, here's a short summary, that may be published on the blog if you wish, of a longer article I just wrote: http://stop.zona-m.net/2011/09/its-time-to-bring-fpga-design-to-the-masses/])// Social and educational potential of FPGA design for the masses Making custom integrated circuits at home or school that are more powerful and much more flexible than the popular Open Source [Arduino www.arduino.cc] platform is still a relatively unknown concept. This activity, however, is not just much more affordable and easy today than just a few years ago thanks to FPGAs: it may also have important social and educational consequences. [Arduino http://www.arduino.cc] is a system for building interactive microcomputers that include, or can be connected to, physical sensors to monitor the surrounding environment and/or control other physical devices like lights, motors, and other physical outputs. **Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs)** are digital integrated circuits in which the connections between all internal transistors, that is the actual functionality of that circuit (modem, CPU, graphic engine, encryption device, router or anything else) are created after it has been soldered on a printed board. This is a huge difference with respect to platforms like Arduino: no matter how much one can customize it, Arduino remains a board built around one fixed microprocessor. An FPGA instead, depending on how its transistors are connected every time it's turned up, could be almost anything and (with some models) also run embedded versions of Linux. ===Status of FPGA development platforms=== Today, many circuit boards built around low to medium complexity FPGAs are available starting from 150/200 USD, or can be manufactured on demand by several vendors. With the right knowledge it is possible to transform any of these boards in a completely custom computer at home or in the classroom. This has huge social implications, because what can be made with FPGAs isn't just products that are only relevant and useful for rich people in first world cities. FPGAs can be the basis for "mass customization" of many small and economical but advanced microelectronic products very useful in all fields of science, education and manufacturing, from hydroponic control systems to home-made robots. FPGAs may control solar panels or be educational platforms similar to the XO minicomputers of the One Laptop Per Child project. At the educational level, teaching to design also FPGAs passes the message that everybody can contribute to design, if not build from scratch, even the most complex and more critical parts that make our society work. It's the next logical step, and much more empowering, after Free Software: "don't just create software for computers, create the computer themselves". This is why it's important to create proper educational resources, interest and motivation to use FPGAs. Marco