QNX: When an OS Really, Really Has to Work

An anonymous reader writes "Fortune has this article about how QNX's OS has found a niche and is doing well. Especially after 1996 when Microsoft executives said they would crush them in 2 years. When your software absolutely positively needs to work!"

Comments

Old article!

[privbit]

This was written in March! dtdodge: is the marketing budget now dedicated to resubmitting old articles to Slashdot? Quick: someone post a link to the Byte story from 1994!

Re:QNX rules

[OldMiner]

Linux and Windows arent "bad" they are just profoundly LAZY. Microkernels and doing everything right is way too much work.

My brain says: don't feed the trolls, but I'm compelled anyhow.

The NT kernel, meaning NT, 2000, XP, 2003, is a microkernel. Although obviously different in design, the habit of Linux to push almost everything into userland using modules keeps the kernel relatively small and object orientedish.

I won't go into memory management, rings, IRQLs, and all that fun stuff as I'm pretty sure you were just trying to incite debate to begin with.

We are NOT missing anything !

[Taco Cowboy]

You're missing a little ...

No, we are NOT missing anything !

In fact, I think you are missing a lot !

QNX is a great operating system, but it's a much different market. It's not made for PCs, it's made for embedded, real time applications. You'll find QNX in routers, you'll find it in medical devices, and you'll find it in nuclear power plants.

What you won't find in QNX is USB support, drivers for a Sound Blaster 16, or Accelerated 3D drivers.

It's a great operating system, but comparing it to things like Windows, Mac OS, Linux, FreeBSD, or even Solaris and AIX are silly. QNX isn't designed to have any frills: it manages resources, incredibly well, and that's it. It doens't do complex scheduling, it doesn't do advanced 3d tricks, and it's not going to do much with the latest firewire hard drives. It will, however, guide a laser over someone's eye for Lasik and other such procedures a thousand times a year without a glitch.

I am afraid to say that all the above quote is really misguided.

I don't know if your misguiding attempt is genuinely intentional, but boy, you really have no idea what an OS really does, do you?

Give you a hint, OS, no matter if it's MS-Windoze, Mac OS, or AIX, or QNX, or even Linux, none of them does advanced 3D tricks. That's the job of USERSPACE SOFTWARES.

Before you argue with me, please tell us exactly which part of the Linux Kernel does "advance 3D tricks" ?

Actually, comparing Linux with QNX is NOT only NOT SILLY, it should be one of the criteria for those who want to be the Linux Kernel hackers - and let them prove their worth by making Linux as bulletproof as QNX, INside and OUTside of the field of embedded, real-time applications.

Until Linux can achive such a status, don't even think of having Linux run critical applications like you have mentioned - Nuclear Power Plant and such.