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QNX Now Free For Non-Commercial use

Posted by timothy on from the groaning-bandwagon dept.

Glytch writes: "QNX is now offering the QNX Realtime Platform operating system for free for non-commercial use for x86 machines. Available installation methods include a Windows 9x executable, an ISO image, and a QNX4 installation archive. Pretty much like Be, Inc. did with BeOS 5." And like Sun has with Solaris, to boot. Would it be that surprising to find Windows soon available "for non-commericial use"?

4 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Yes.. it would be surprising by znu · · Score: 5

    Microsoft could probably still make lots of money giving Windows away to consumers but still making OEMs pay for it. It's not like OEMs have the option of not including an OS in today's PC market.

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  2. Re:BeOS and QNX by sconeu · · Score: 5

    QNX is a real-time OS, based on a microkernel. It's useful in situations with hard RT requirements... where something like Linux or BSD currently would be inappropriate (Unix is not RealTime).

    Hard RealTime systems are extremely difficult to write, there's probably no way in hell that QNX will be GPL'ed, there's a hell of a lot of investment there. This same point came up in "GPL 3.0 Concerns in Embedded World".

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    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  3. And immediatly.. by Glowing+Fish · · Score: 5

    If Windows ever goes free for home, or any other type of, use, I am sure their will be a great outcry on Slashdot and maybe in the justice department about how Micro$oft is destroying competition by giving its product away for free.

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  4. Windows free for non-commercial use? Well... by tamnir · · Score: 5
    Would it be that surprising to find Windows soon available "for non-commericial use"?

    When I first read this, I thought, as probably most of you did: "Yeah, right! Forget it!". But then, I gave it a second thought: after all, Microsoft already does provide some free software, IE being an oustanding example.

    The question is: why is IE free? I guess the answer has something to do with crushing a certain competitor, combined with the fact that Microsoft can afford to provide IE free of charges.

    Now, what if the competition on the OS front starts to threaten Microsoft? We have seen that recently, they have changed their stance towards Linux, considering it a serious threat...

    So, given the above, and considering that Microsoft would still make money on commercial licences, and of course on their other products, does the "free for non-commercial use" Windows idea still sound stupid?

    Another question I'd like to raise: if Windows does become free (let's say for any use, to broaden the topic), what would the consequences be?

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    I code, therefore I am.