“Microsoft officially moved into the embedded systems market
Monday with the release of Windows NT Embedded 4.0, which
the company is aiming at retail sales, telecommunications,
manufacturing, Internet appliances, and other vertical
markets.
NT 4.0 Embedded will be sold as a run-time operating system
through OEMs, which will be able to customize the software to fit
particular tasks. It will be sold on a per-seat basis based on four
pricing models, two aimed at workstation functionality and two
devoted to server functionality.”
“According to a study by the Gartner Group, Microsoft has taken
great pains to ensure that NT Embedded does not ‘cannibalize’ its
other operating system products. For example, OEMs cannot use NT
Embedded to create file and print-sharing devices – NT Server’s
territory — or handheld devices, which would compete with Windows
CE.”