BusinessWeek: QNX: Linux' Super-Fast, Super-Cheap Cousin

"This zippy derivative of the UNIX operating system could make development of Web appliance hardware cheap and easy"

"One of the easiest ways for a company to boost its stock lately has been to mention that it has some association with the Linux operating system. The wild ride enjoyed by Linux-related stocks is based on speculation that the free operating system will find wide use in a brace of new Web appliances just beginning to hit the market..."

"Linux, however, has a rival in this burgeoning line of business. It's called QNX, and it comes from privately held QNX Software Systems Ltd. (www.qnx.com) of Kanata, Ont. Like Linux, QNX is a derivative of the UNIX operating system developed in the 1970s by what was then AT&T Bell Labs. But where Linux was designed to run on standard PC hardware, QNX is what's known as a real-time operating system: super-fast and small enough to be embedded in devices on a computer memory chip."

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