Looking at the coffee machine above, you wouldn't guess it's a computer. It is. In fact, it runs Windows XP and is complete with XP security vulnerabilities as reported by SecurityFocus via Slashdot. While that may be discouraging, it is no less amazing that a coffee machine can operate a standard operating system and have applications written for it's own control.
That's the key, of course. "Standard" operating system. Looking at industry trends recently, it is becoming obvious that electronics makers are abandoning their own proprietary software in favor of established, often open-source systems. Examples:
- Nokia purchased Symbian outright, established the Symbian Foundation, and changed the Symbian structure to a royalty-free, open platform.
- Google's much-touted Android is part of an Open Handset Alliance with nearly three dozen partners.
- GPS maker Dash uses Linux as a base - the same Linux structure as the OpenMoko Linux phone.
- ACCESS Company, the owners of the PalmOS system, is building on the roots of PalmOS on top Linux. I recently interviewed them on this for tabletblog.
Consumers' voices have been heard: They want more from their devices than the software included in the box. Developers have been heard: They don't want to write the same software for two dozen platforms to get market penetration. The open-source community has been heard: When the system is open, it can be improved by the worldwide development community.
Apple begrudgingly opened up an application store for the iPhone but still keep it closed and on a tight leash. Microsoft has allowed development on the Windows Mobile platform for quite some time, but the Windows Mobile SDK requires Microsoft Visual Studio ($300 to $800 depending on the version) and uses a proprietary code "style" to interact with the still-closed operating system.
The question for discussion: Is this overall a good thing? How will this impact applications, security, cost, and evolution? What will happen to stodgy handset makers like LG who still stick with their own system? How will Microsoft and Apple react to the increasingly present, increasingly open competition?
Discuss!
2 comments:
I guess one of the main determining factors is going to be this, are the commercial, closed source solutions better than the free, open source ones?
Tough one to predict since only time will tell. In the computing market we have seen a trend of consumer and office applications opting towards a commercial solution. Why? Well they were first to the market to address consumer and business needs for the mass market.
On the other hand, in the server market, you have a history where traditionally commercial unix platforms catered to the business needs. Once the open source solution exceeded the benefits of the commercial solution, it became the obvious choice due to its cost and feature set.
My money is on Android being the strongest option for the OSS platform.. if anything, simply because everyone still loves google, and lord knows they have the $ to burn =]
1) You don't mean firmware. You mean "embedded systems OSs."
2) This is not new. Been going on for at least 10 years. Within the last 2 years I have seen reliable-as-mountains OS/2 ATMs replaced with shiny, colorful, nonsensical, buggy and often broken windows devices. Etc. for most any other sector.
3) It's mostly very, very bad, because at least in the U.S. everything seems to be going to some flavor of windows. Check out any non-Garmin GPS. Magellan, as far as I can tell, has gone entirely from their own rather good UI, to a crappy Windows interface (crappy = corner close buttons for popups on a scroll and select interface).
4) A few embedded systems went back already. Industrial automation realized downtime kills, and has mostly got proprietary OSs. Think Allan Bradley's Logix systems. Google it.
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