I think my response to David Swart a while back will tell you exactly
why I think MSFT/WinCE/WinNT are not a threat to WIND. You'll also
notice that MSFT sits on the steering committee for I2O, yet Intel
went to WIND to have the I2O IRTOS designed and implemented. If MSFT
wanted to be in this highly technical market, don't you think they
would have been the ones to do the IRTOS, rather than WIND? MSFT has
always stayed away from down-and-dirty hardware-centric markets - they
could easily have provided the PC BIOS from day one, but they left it
to others. I have made this point in previous posts, so you might want
to review them.
As far as Intel goes, I have always found it interesting that, shortly
after the original I2O rollout (2/96), they announced they had sold
off their own RTOS, iRMX, to Radisys (sp?) and would no longer support
it. Intel had developed iRMX in the early 80s, and had actively
marketed it for 15 years. I know for a fact that Intel has been very
pleased with WIND's I2O work, and I can't help but think that they
saw VxWorks/Tornado as a superior product to their own RTOS and made
the decision to abandon iRMX. Obviously, there is some explanation for
Intel's move; you don't invest 15 years into a product and just drop
it without good reason.
Both MSFT and INTC can certainly buy WIND, but WIND's strength comes
from being non-aligned, and I think MSFT and INTC know this. In other
words, I'm not convinced that WIND would continue its success if its
products were viewed as being in the MSFT/INTC camp. WIND plays to all
comers, regardless of who they are or who they compete with. Do you
think that VxWorks would have a snowball's chance in hell of being
selected for the Oracle NC-2 if WIND were owned by MSFT - or INTC? Not
hardly.
-Dave Lehenky
|
