Software Trends

Jan. 12, 2006
Open-source software is permeating embedded systems development. In a recent VDC survey of embedded developers, Linux was the most cited operating system for current projects. Vendors of commercial operating systems and development tools are tak
  • Open-source software is permeating embedded systems development. In a recent VDC survey of embedded developers, Linux was the most cited operating system for current projects.
  • Vendors of commercial operating systems and development tools are taking note, adapting and learning from Linux and other open-source software. In addition, open-source is becoming a key component within traditional software suppliers' product lines.
  • Other widely used open-source OSs include eCos and FreeBSD. Sun released Solaris under the Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL), which is a modified Mozilla open-source license, last January.
  • With the release of CDT 3.0, Eclipse's C/C++ development tool, the open-source integrated development environment is even better tuned to the embedded market, where the vast majority of developers uses C and many use C++.
  • While not perfect, the Eclipse framework might offer the best environment for higher levels of integration and interoperability with best-in-class technologies.
  • The success of databases such as MySQL, Berkeley-DB (a commercial offering from Sleepycat), db4o (db4objects), and others shows the ability of companies to leverage open-source communities and business models to quickly ramp up interest, innovation, and ultimately unit deployments.
  • More higher-quality open-source projects offer greater choice but complicate the decision-making process.

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