"Earlier this month, market research firm Embedded Market
Forecasters (EMF) released a report which claims embedded
development projects based on Microsoft's 'Windows Embedded'
operating system platforms (specifically, Windows CE .NET and
Windows XP Embedded) are completed 43% faster and at 68% lower
cost, on average, compared with similar projects using Embedded
Linux. The study, titled Total Cost of Development: A comprehensive
cost estimation framework for evaluating embedded development
platforms, derives its quantitative conclusions from a cost-based
framework for comparing embedded operating system development
alternatives that was developed by the report's author, Dr. Jerry
Krasner.
"The report includes data from a survey of 100 manufacturers
using 32-bit processors in a range of embedded projects and
applications--50 using various implementations of embedded Linux,
and 50 using Microsoft's Windows Embedded platforms (Windows CE
.NET and Windows XP Embedded). The devices and applications
included in the source data reportedly covered consumer
electronics, handheld computers, industrial controllers, network
gateways, point-of-sale kiosks, set-top boxes, thin clients, and
others. The report estimates 'total cost of development' for each
project by multiplying the average embedded design project
time-to-market by the software engineering team size and
cost..."
