Erik,

We are on the same page, that is essentially what I said. It looks like Richard has several applications that he would use this proposed MCU board on. I explained that, yes the hardware costs would be lower, but that you also have to factor in all of the different agency approval's cost( UL, FCC, CSA, CE, etc.). Not only the cost of running the tests to prove that you meet the various agency's criteria, but costs to iterate your design to meet the various agency's criteria. As far as support, well I find that usually the support is provided by the company that sells the product, which it looks like Richard's company does sell these products. So his company will have to provide any support anyway.