"MontaVista Software will release on Wednesday a version of
Linux for consumer-electronics devices, as the company seeks to
have its software used in everything from karaoke machines to
high-end television sets.
"MontaVista, whose software is used in personal video recorders
from NEC and Sony, will also take advantage of the Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas to announce that its software is used
in a new Panasonic video phone sold to Japanese customers with
high-speed Internet connections.
"With hundreds of in-develop products using its software,
MontaVista is succeeding in a market that hasn't been kind to some
competitors. The Red Hat unit devoted to Linux for 'embedded'
computing devices, for example, has been punished by slower
spending on the part of microprocessor companies, and the
beleaguered Embedix (formerly Lineo) was acquired last month by
Motorola subsidiary Metrowerks..."
