Device Hackers Do It With Linux

An anonymous reader writes "LinuxDevices.com has published the results of its annual Embedded Linux Market Survey probing developer preferences and industry trends. Over the last four years, the survey has become an important resource for industry analysts and decision makers. Among the revelations: the embedded Linux tools and OS provider market is wide open, with no single dominant vendor; developers care most about Cost/Freeness; ARM is overtaking x86 in embedded systems; developers prefer support fees to runtime license models; and, Linux dwarves all other embedded operating systems, projected for use in half of all embedded projects during the next two years."

Comments

Re:you don't say

[El]

True, this is not a scientific survey. However, my personal experience tells me Linux is being considered for about half of all new devices. Look at the economics. A wireless access point is now about a $50 device. How much sense does it make to pay a $25 license fee for the OS for every one of these? You simply can't do that and still remain competitive. Arguably, you can't pay ANY per-unit license fees now and still remain competive with companies that are paying only development costs -- at least for any devices selling in high volumes.