No mramos, your post won't be removed - because everyone is entitled to their opinions and yours are as respected here as everyone elses provided correct decorum is observed.

It is naive to say that company X has better chips than company Y. Atmel has a better price/performance point over Microchip is some areas, in others Microchip is the winner. It is dependant on your application.

Forums with 'lots of traffic' could also indicate problems with the product. The biggest issue with PICBasic is folks don't read manuals or Datasheets or know electronic basics. Remove those kind of posts and there really would be no need for this forum at all!

Likewise PICBasic is aimed at a price point. You saw (or should have) what it's specification was before you bought it. MeLabs make no secret of PBC's capabilities and it should not be a surprise when it dropped through your letterbox. The manual is freely downloadable and you should have noticed it doesn't have features like LCDOUT, although it doesn't stop you from interfacing an LCD - it's just more troublesome. If you are a professional where time is money, then you should have bought the PRO, because you will have recouped your additional outlay with the very first project.

On the other hand, if you have a bottom-end product that is 'complete', there's really no incentive to buy the PRO version is there? So you effectively kill the sales of a product that pays the Mortgage in exchange for a product that barely keeps you fed. Selling microcontroller compilers isn't exactly a mass-market "every home must have one" product.

I also have a product which is designed in a BASIC and a PRO version. The BASIC is exactly the same as the PRO but has all the good bits removed. Salesmen come back every day moaning that they want the features of the $3,000 product in the $900 product - and the answer is NO. If the customers want those features, then they have to buy the $3,000 product - it's what puts the jam on the bread and butter.