Microsoft enters robotics race

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Dude, you are so far off base you don't even know it

Embedded Windows owns like 1-2% of the entire embedded market. But Embedded Linux solutions are skyrocketing. A company called Wind River has enjoyed the largest market share for some time now, and recently partnered with Red Hat to make an Embedded Linux distro. Pick up any trade magazine, and you will find literally hundreds of references to Linux, before you find one for Windows. Why?
1) Linux is free, lower cost (extremely important in the embedded world)
2) Linux is scalable. The modular construction of the operating system allows you to pick EXACTLY what you NEED.
3) The best documentation and support is the source code.
4) Linux runs on far more microprocessors than Windows. And I'm not talking about the ones that Intel and AMD make. Try companies like Microchip, Freescale, TI, and others.
5) If something don't work in the kernel for a processor, just go in the source and fix it yourself. No waiting for someone at MS to fix it and rebuild it, and get it back out to you. This equals faster time to market, which also saves cost, because everyday a product isn't on the shelf, is another day it isn't selling.

This is just the start of the list. When I design, I compare Linux solutions against other RTOS's and not Embedded Windows. The only place Embedded windows might even make sense is very high end consumer electronics, but that's it. Robots don't need to interact with Windows Media Player, so the price and closed source, and lack of good support pretty much kill it in my opinion... as an embedded engineer.

Here's a link if you like that pretty much sums it up for you (one thousands I can easily produce):
http://www.edn.com/article/CA605681.html?ref=nbra&text=embedded+linux

I'm no zealot, but for those of you who are, I can tell you your Linux revolution is here, just not how you imagined it. Millions of people today are already using Linux and don't even realize it, in their cell phones, DVD players, calculators, etc. As far as "major" operating system battle in the embedded world, Linux is definitely king of the mountain at the moment.

Posted by: babar77   Posted on: 06/20/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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