“As potential soars for the collaboration between embedded
Linux and instant messaging, we are bracing for a deluge of new
applications and services. More importantly, we stand on the
threshold of a new way to think about–and use–the
Internet….“
“In the RT world, applications were usually in highly isolated
markets. Even in the home, just about every potentially
“intelligent” real-time application belonged to a very isolated
professional specialty that had little if any interest in other
specialties. Home security, outdoor irrigation, fire-safety
sprinkler systems, heating and air conditioning, kitchen
appliances, entertainment systems, indoor and outdoor lighting,
telephones, computers and networks…these were all served by
different businesses with different kinds of expertise. For proof,
try to find a single contractor to install (much less service)
telephone, security, computer network and home entertainment
systems. The Net was never a factor for many of these categories,
so it was pointless to think of all of them in a connected context.
Their vendors didn’t, even if their customers did.”
“Now, connected-context is increasingly the point. “People are
going to have to think differently here–even people already in the
embedded space,” says David Rieves, Director of Product Marketing
at Lineo, one of the leading embedded Linux companies. “Now, 32-bit
hardware is cheap commodity stuff. So you hold overhead down in the
OS, which is why Linux is so appealing. As hardware costs go down,
interest in Linux goes up”, especially for devices that live on the
Internet.”
“This means we need to start thinking about real-time
development in a network context. While the network context is old
hat for Linux, real time is not. The most familiar network
services–e-mail and the web–are both essentially store and
forward concepts. But to a growing community of Open Source
developers, the missing piece here is instant messaging (IM),
which, by definition, is much closer to “real” time.”