“The embedded-OS maker borrows a page from the Linux book…
There are those who say that Linux has a bigger future in embedded
systems than on the desktop. So it’s good to know that a few
entrenched players in the embedded market seem willing to play
nice.”
“The product they have on the market today is QNX 4. It’s still
somewhat Unix and POSIX compatible and still for the embedded and
RTOS market. It’s a very respected commercial offering, as
evidenced by the 10th QNX conference noted above. But a lot of
things are about to change. Actually the change began a couple of
years ago, when QNX began to design its next-generation product,
the Neutrino microkernel. Dodge and Bell knew they wanted to adhere
more rigorously to the POSIX standard, so they looked for a model.
They looked at Solaris and BSD before choosing Linux as the one
with which they felt most comfortable. So as they’ve designed the
APIs for Neutrino, they’ve leaned toward the Linux model whenever
they’ve had to decide one way or the other. “
“They’ve also developed Photon, a scalable micro-GUI to go with
Neutrino. Photon shows a Linux influence by its support of X to
enable X Window applications to run on it transparently. But that’s
not all. As Neutrino and Photon have gotten closer to market, QNX
has decided to make a number of significant changes in the way it
does business. The goal is to get the product in the hands of a lot
more people. QNX’s timing is good because by all accounts the
embedded market is getting ready for boom times.”