“The ELC initiative for a unified open platform for embedded
Linux (the ELC Platform Specification) is a watershed event for the
embedded industry. One of the most tantalizing promises of Linux
for this highly fragmented market is the possibility of a single,
open, multi-vendor standard platform for embedded software.”
“The embedded markets have never had the equivalent of a
software platform like DOS or Windows around which a software
industry could grow. Embedded developers have had to develop most
of their software from scratch, with far fewer choices of tools and
middleware to build upon than their mainstream counterparts, and
there has been much effort expended reinventing the wheel for each
project.”
“The POSIX effort of a decade ago, which included real-time
extensions to the UNIX APIs and the definition of POSIX real-time
profiles, was aimed at this holy grail of an open
real-time/embedded platform. The POSIX APIs have gained popularity
in the embedded community, and have played a useful role for
developers who wanted to develop portable software. However, they
have failed to achieve the hoped for widespread traction in the
embedded markets that would establish POSIX as a leading
“platform.”