Hi. I didn't believe this until I saw it on the Microchip site.
In my opinion, this is not really a bad thing. It would be (probably) an awesome idea making the assembly language for PICs work on AVRs or ARMs and the assembly language of the Atmel work on PICs, or make them similar (it's just an idea). This way both PIC and AVR/ARM enthusiasts could enlarge their possibilities by using other controllers without learning a second programming language, being more comfortable to use something that you have already worked with.
As for the controllers, some people say that PICs are the best, however, I dont know how true this statement is, because I haven't played with Atmel controllers...
. PICs are full of interesting features, while AVR/ARM have higher performances and so on.
A common assembly language would require a software modification (pretty complex stuff) and ,though, I find it fast and easy to learn, having access directly to the code unlike Basic or C.
These are just ideas.
Questions: why would a huge company like Microchip buy Atmel? In order to eliminate one of the biggest competitors? Why would the Atmel owner sell the company?