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Pastimes : Home on the range where the buffalo roam -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DOUG H who wrote (982)	4/7/2000 5:59:00 PM
From: Boplicity	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 13572

Last I spent a lot of time looking at embedded technologies from software to chips. I invested in WIND at the time, I believe I was early, much like my investment in PDLI five years ago. Here is an article on embedded technologies concerning LYNX. I still think the embedded idea is still a little green, but we are getting close so it's technology that should be watched. <<Forbes.com Companies Bet On Embedded Linux By Amy Doan Linux may soon be all around us--just not on top of your desk. Underscoring what looks like a new trend, on April 10 Motorola (NYSE: MOT - news) and TurboLinux will announce the acquisition of stakes in Lynx Real-Time Systems, which is developing versions of the Linux open-source operating system for set-top boxes, Web tablets, printers, phone switches and other non-PC hardware. The two join Intel (Nasdaq: INTC - news), which announced an investment in San Jose, Calif.-based Lynx on March 27. The company's mezzanine funding round now totals more than $20 million. Lynx writes ``embedded' operating systems, meaning that its software is incorporated directly into a microprocessor, rather than purchased separately from hardware for generic use. Over 90% of the invisible computers we encounter everyday--at gas pumps, in cars, in plane navigation systems--use embedded operating systems. The market for embedded Linux is starting to look more alluring than the market for off-the-shelf Linux. For one thing, there will be more information appliances than PCs by 2001, according to International Data Corp. Another reason is that while Microsoft still dominates the packaged-OS world, next-generation communication and networking devices are very much unsettled territory. Because it is small, fast and stable, Linux appears to be ideal for handheld devices that can't accommodate even the most stripped-down version of Windows. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT - news) has hinted that it might make its Windows CE operating system for handhelds available to developers for free, which could help it compete in the appliance market. But Linux has a huge head start. Another advantage for Linux is that companies basing their products on it won't need to pay license fees for every unit they produce, as is the case when they develop with proprietary software. That makes it a very cheap alternative. ``When you get into the consumer electronics world, a few bucks really matters,' says Paul Czerny, an analyst covering the embedded Linux market for Venture Development Corp. in Natick, Mass. ``If they use any version of Windows, it's ten times more expensive.' Investors appear to agree that the future of Linux may not be on the desktop. Shares of Red Hat (Nasdaq: RHAT - news), which makes shrink-wrapped Linux for computers, is down 70% since its December high and late today was trading just below its first week's close at $38.13. VA Linux Systems (Nasdaq: LNUX - news), which makes Linux-based computers, is faring even worse. It's down to $51 from its post-IPO high of $320 in December. Meanwhile, embedded-systems companies are doing just dandy. OS company Wind River Systems (Nasdaq: WIND - news) is up 188% from its debut at $40.50. Wind River competes with Lynx but has been slower to develop a Linux-based product line. Lynx and companies like it probably will face competition from other quarters, such as the Palm operating system and Sun Microsystems' (Nasdaq: SUNW - news) Java. But Lynx Chief Executive Inder Singh is ready. ``Unlike Java, Linux is going to more than live up to its hype,' he says. >>