VxWorks is just too good [LWN.net]

VxWorks is just too good

Posted Dec 2, 2005 15:25 UTC (Fri) by pizza (subscriber, #46)
In reply to: VxWorks is just too good by larryr
Parent article: LinkSys courts Linux hackers with WRT54GL (LinuxDevices)

Bzzt, try again.

Ultimately the only reason any Taiwanese company uses Linux in a mass-produced product is because it is cheaper per-unit than the alternatives. Don't delude yourself into thinking any otherwise.

Also, don't delude yourself into thinking Linux is the end-all be-all for everyone. It keeps getting better, yes. So do the alternatives. In the end we all win.

Besides, Linksys (with rare exceptions) doesn't actually write any of the code that goes into their prodcuts. Aside from the UI tweaks and branding, it's all done by the ODMs and chipset manufacturers.

to post comments

VxWorks is just too good

Posted Dec 2, 2005 18:17 UTC (Fri) by mf (guest, #34286) [Link] (1 responses)

You're very close. Cisco recently bought Linksys, and it's time to start paying off the purchase price. Cisco is all about manufacturing and margins. Linksys is probably under heavy pressure right now to get their margins up, and one way to do it is by cutting BOM costs. VxWorks is already in a lot of Cisco products (I've worked on a few in the past). They're probably not giving it away, but you can be sure the incremental adder for VxWorks is less than the savings in BOM costs.

VxWorks is just too good

Posted Dec 2, 2005 19:15 UTC (Fri) by larryr (guest, #4030) [Link]

but you can be sure the incremental adder for VxWorks is less than the savings in BOM costs.

The "incremental adder" for Linux is 0. I think the "savings in BOM costs" is a red herring, since the implication that the new hardware configuration precludes using Linux is a non sequitur.

Larry