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Technology Stocks : Wind River going up, up, up! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: James Connolly who wrote (3427)	7/18/1998 1:47:00 PM
From: James Connolly	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10309

Microsoft Girds Win CE For Embedded Battle. "In the real world, this strategy means Microsoft appears intent on going after some of the embedded applications that have traditionally belonged to the likes of VxWorks and QNX in areas such as test and instrumentation, printers and networking" techweb.com Regards JC. Found this article on the Yahoo board. Any thoughts ?

To: James Connolly who wrote (3427)	7/22/1998 10:17:00 PM
From: Allen Benn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10309

>What do you think of WIND's Zinc acquisition? Of growing importance both to the embedded systems developer and end users is the graphical user interface (GUI). Consequently, de facto GUI standards are now considered necessary propellants for shooting embedded systems into the mainstream of computer industry. If the GUI standard could be something other than Windows, and be compatible with most platforms and operating systems, it would weaken the appeal of the dark forces from Redmond. There are three primary approaches being pursued for adding GUI's to devices of all types: (1) Java, (2) thin server with IP browser and (3) traditional GUI. Although Microsoft is trying to dominate, or at least disrupt Java standards, as a practical matter, Java can be viewed as a standardized, open solution that continues to hold promise in the embedded world. WIND is extremely well positioned in the Java world, being courted by Sun and HP, the two leaders in the Java world of computing. Thin servers accessed with Internet browsers provide conceptually elegant and efficient standard solutions that integrate automatically with Intranets and Extranets. By designing around standard browsers (i.e. client software) executing from anywhere on the Internet, or locally on the device itself, a GUI application can be fielded without fuss or muss. I particularly like the notion that the client can be any generic off-the-shelf browser meeting open IP standards. Remember that this concept was enough to be considered a threat to Microsoft a couple years ago when it was embedded in PCs or other client computers (NCs, Unix Workstations, etc). WIND has been enthusiastic about this approach for quite awhile, and by now is being joined by most other RTOS vendors. While Microsoft actively attempts to confuse Java standards (with ActiveX for example), there is not much the empire can do to sabotage thin servers, and probably will continue to ignore them and hope they go away. The Achilles heel of embedded systems is the lack of a standard for traditional GUI interfaces, both as an API for developers, and for end users. Proprietary windowing systems have limited appeal as an industry standard. Open solutions like XWindows, the Unix favorite, is big and bulky. The dream GUI would be scalable and layer efficiently on top all platforms; it would be general enough to accommodate any type of screen specification (size, resolution, language, scalable font, etc.); and it would provide maximum design flexibility. Finally, the GUI would be available for host development as well as embedded systems, thereby enabling target simulation on the host. This leaves a vacuum to be filled while the Java and thin-server solutions mature and become popular. Microsoft and partners offer Windows CE as the answer to your dreams, and are trying to squeeze the bloated product into the GUI vacuum. The remaining part of the Universe, i.e. the other 99% of companies, see Windows CE more as a nightmare, and would like to see the vacuum filled by something better and non-threatening. Zinc meets all the GUI specifications, but if it aspires to filling the vacuum, it must be open and it needs critical mass, and fast. WIND is perfectly positioned to help the industry standardize on the Zinc GUI. By giving Zinc the ultimate endorsement (acquisition not just the previously announced availability of the Zinc GUI) and committing to keeping the Zinc operation separate and completely open, potential customers now know that Zinc always will be available on any development or target platform. Add in the steady improvement expected through ample R&D and it is obvious that Zinc now is positioned to dominate in any looming GUI wars in the embedded space. WIND's customers should be ecstatic, knowing that a viable alternative to the Windows CE GUI exists now and forever. WIND's RTOS competition will appreciate the body block given the Microsoft GUI. Whether or not they like helping WIND, they also realize that a de facto Zinc standard solves a huge industry problem. It relieves RTOS vendors from having to pursue wasteful propriety GUI solutions that ultimately would cost their customers and themselves much more than the Zinc solution from WIND. In addition to all these pluses, WIND gets another benefit from the Zinc acquisition. As Zinc becomes the de facto standard, its customer base and sales will grow nicely, generating profits that will be accretive to WIND. In short, Zinc will contribute modestly but positively to WIND's EPS. Microsoft can not be pleased with any of these implications. But then, maybe that's a benefit too. Allen