Upside: Wind River inside; competition for Linux in embedded devices

“If you go into your office and look around, there are probably
more products that have Wind River in them than Microsoft,” said
Pacific Crest Securities analyst James Faucette. “Microsoft’s on
your desktop, but Wind River is in your printer, your cell phone,
your [personal digital assistant].”

“A host of personal computer executives, from Apple’s (AAPL)
Steve Jobs to Microsoft’s Bill Gates, has repeatedly outlined a
vision for keeping the PC in demand by making it the center of the
digitally connected home. If they’re right, Wind River, which
bought its biggest competitor Integrated Systems last year, stands
to get its operating system in a growing number of devices,
analysts say.”

“There are a number of companies that make embedded
operating systems including Microsoft, Palm (PALM) and a variety of
Linux companies. But Faucette said, “The threat from Microsoft and
Linux is really concentrated in things that look and act like PCs.
Lower memory and processor devices are more difficult for those
operating systems.”

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