Embedded projects not easily comparable

Embedded projects not easily comparable

Posted Jul 16, 2003 21:47 UTC (Wed) by emk (subscriber, #1128)
Parent article: Analyst: embedded Linux costs more

The embedded marketplace is incredibly diverse--dozens of processors, operating systems and compiler vendors, with thousands of different niche markets. It's not easy to survey meaningfully.

There's a real danger in confusing "embedded" point-of-sale applications with mobile applications with medical devices with industrial controllers with exotic niche applications with whatever else is floating around. Most market "surveys" lump together a hundred dissimilar markets and produce meaningless conclusions.

For example, Linux could easily be more expensive because it's being used in more technically aggressive projects requiring more custom development than is typical for WinCE. Or it could be that WinCE is preferred for certain point-of-sale applications, and Linux is winding up in more mobile devices.

Really, it's like trying to compare Ford, Boeing, skateboards and NASA as methods of transportation. You have to be a bit suspicious of any analyst who even tries, especially if they produce obviously partisan results.

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