Software Trends

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

Chris Lanfear

Jan. 12, 2006

2 min read

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.