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Technology Stocks : e.Digital Corporation(EDIG) - Embedded Digital Technology -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Walter Morton who wrote (7416)	8/24/1999 10:51:00 PM
From: Walter Morton	Respond to of 18366

What did that email from Intel actually tell us? Well, I tried to break it down to see: Does Intel plan to incorporate e.Digital Corp's MicroOS into the FDI to achieve "more functionality? THIS QUESTION WAS NOT ANSWERED If no, how will FDI perform better than MicroOS and not infringe upon e.Digital's patents? PARTIALLY ANSWERED: "Intel is very careful about intellectual Property (IP), and we have our own extensive portfolio of flash (including software) patents that date back quite a few years." How is FDI superior to MicroOS? HE DOES NOT CLAIM THAT FDI IS SUPERIOR, BUT DIFFERENT ("Another difference is...") How will FDI become superior to MicroOS? HE DOES NOT CLAIM THAT FDI IS SUPERIOR, BUT DIFFERENT ("Another difference is..."): "Intel(R) FDI requires a real-time operating system (with full multi-tasking capability) for it to operate. "It is not designed to be a stand alone product. "We found that most embedded O/S' (like most RTOS') out there have no idea how to implement an appropriately featured flash-based data/file manager." MicroOS is a robust, full-featured file management system with minimal memory requirements "O/S developers tend to create only the most rudimentary flash capabilities (if any at all) and we found they needed to be supplemented. That is why we created FDI and our other flash software." "MicroOS is a robust, full-featured file management system with minimal memory requirements" "Another difference is that "Intel(R) FDI is also designed to work with non-removable linear flash, such as Intel's NOR flash offerings," "It (MicroOS) supports NAND or NOR flash memory... and IDE hard disks..." "and not ATA/IDE based flash as the web site indicates for e.Digital's MicroOS* products. These are quite different in operation." "MicroOS can be applied in a wide range of devices using ATA- or IDE- compatible memory, and is particularly well suited for use with flash memory." I commend the guy for going to the EDIG web site and trying to learn about EDIG's product before answering the questions. However, I think he was confused or the web site lacked enough information for him to give a proper response in some cases. Well here is my interpretation: Apparently, other companies have developed flash operating systems that are inferior to MicroOS in terms of features. It seems that the FDI is intended to help make inferior flash operating systems as robust as MicroOS. If that is the case, then FDI is an indirect threat to MicroOS. Companies that know that MicroOS exits will have a choice of whether or not to create their own operating system, supplement their OS with FDI or simply buy MicroOS. FDI - techstocks.com ATA - type of flash interfaces which is widely used for hard disks IDE - techweb.com RTOS - Real Time Operating System