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EE Times 2013 embedded survey

fustini

I found these survey results interesting:

 

Android, FreeRTOS top EE Times' 2013 embedded survey

http://eetimes.com/electronics-news/4407897/Android--FreeRTOS-top-EE-Times--2013-embedded-survey

 

Android was up from 13 percent of projects the year before, putting it in second place behind the most popular option, which was the use of in-house/custom operating systems, which the respondents use 28 percent of the time (see chart below).

 

LinuxGizmos.com did further analysis of the results:

 

Embedded developers prefer Linux, love Android

http://linuxgizmos.com/embedded-developers-prefer-linux-love-android/

According to EE Times, the “in-house/custom” option remained embedded developers’ top choice, at 28 percent, an increase from last year’s 24 percent.But if a spectrum of disparate approaches can be lumped together as a single option, why not aggregate of the various shades of Linux to see how they compare?

They found that the various flavors of Linux accounted for 50% in 2013, up from 46% in 2012.

 

I'm curious to know from the embedded developers in this group, do the survey results seem to jive with what you see in your work?

 

Cheers,

Drew

  • I always prefer the no-operating system approach when doing embedded software.  I generally have to check the "in-house/custom" box in those cases.  Sure, you have to do a little extra work to incorporate a new device, but it's generally less work and a lot more fun than trying to write a Linux or other OS device driver or integrate a device driver obtained elsewhere.  Since you write the software it's a whole lot easier to understand and maintain.  I've yet to meet an operating system that makes my code run faster than it would without it.

     

    It can sometimes be difficult to clear this with pointy-haired bosses who are convinced by glib sales-critters that it's effortless to incorporate vendor software and make it work in the product.  It can also sometimes be difficult to clear this with software departments populated by people who don't enjoy writing software, and would rather spend their days trying to get software they didn't write to work together.

     

    Interesting chart in the Geek Times article.  VxWorks and Micrium sure have taken a beating, and it's interesting to see the rise of single-vendor RTOS from Freescale and TI.  I guess the trend is to avoid paying for an operating system no matter what it costs to write your own or adapt a free one image

  • in reply to johnbeetem

    Thanks for the perspective.  I hadn't thought of that in-house/custom could mean instances where an "OS" isn't really needed.