alt Hacker News> The only argument I've ever seen for RISC-V that's vaguely logical is that there's no licensing to Arm involved, but since I can get M0/M3 devices for a dollar or so with infinite tool and library support that's something that's totally irrelevant for most users.
How expensive is it to license the instruction set so you can expand it?
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Dunno, I'm still saving up for the billion-dollar fab I'll need before I can think about licensing an instruction set.
As an aside, Espressif (or Xtensa if you want to split hairs) have been quietly doing a lot of what RISC-V is supposed to do for years now. I know they've also been fiddling with RV32's but all the real work is LX6/LX7. They're best-known for their use in ESP32s but they also crop up in an awful lot of industrial/commercial gear.
Surely those expanding the instruction set do not fall into "most users"?