Bob,
CE is not technically as capable as VxWorks. It will not be able to take away any of the traditional RTOS market share from WRS, and neither does Microsoft intend to. Microsoft is going after the consumer electronics market with CE. Wind has to enter this market to grow 40%-50% annually.
But the reality is that VxWorks will never be able to compete against CE. In fact, they are two different animals. CE is an OS with Applications integrated on top of it. And Microsoft hopes that one day CE can be a Windows like OS with many applications on top of it such as Office, Internet Explore, and games. On the other hand, Wind is not trying to build an empire in the consumer electronics market. It is partnering with companies such as FlashPoint and NCI. And for most of the time, softwares built on top of VxWorks are meant for specific products, while CE and its applications are meant to be more generalized so that they can be used for set-tops, PDAs, cellular phone, etc...
Wind and Microsoft are two companies with different visions for the consumer electronics market. Microsoft's biggest weakness is also its biggest strength; it's size, money, man power, and competitive history may just scare system makers such as Sony from getting too close.
Khan |
