“Over the last decade, a sea change has occurred in the world of
embedded systems, driven by the appearance of sophisticated new
products such as PDAs and cell phones and by the continual increase
in the amount of resources that can be packed into a small form
factor. The traditional small, narrowly focused embedded systems
retain their significant presence, but these newer arrivals can
capitalize on embedding a full-featured operating system. The
operating system provides a wide selection of capabilities from
which to choose. For example, wireless Internet connectivity and a
GUI already are built in. Only a few years ago, embedded operating
systems typically were found only at the high end of the embedded
system spectrum…”