I am currently doing some work with 802.11 wireless access points that
are built on embedded Linux.  All of the major manufacturers of
wireless equipment – Cisco/Linksys, NetGear, etc. -are releasing
products based on embedded Linux.  What is amazing is the pricing
on these boxes.  Most of them are under $200 with several under
$100.  For a Linux system, this is pretty amazing.

What really hit me is how quickly embedded Linux systems are going to
begin to dominate the embedded systems market.  If I were going to
start any new embedded system design, I would immediately embrace the
embedded Linux architecture and supporting chipsets.  There are
numerous reasons that I could look at:

• Immediate access to a growing developer community / talent pool
• Access to a broad range of code for a wide range of purposes
• Low/No cost for the core software

What is pretty amazing to me is that I am now working on “Linux
computers” that I have purchased for under $100 … that could run on
batteries … and have an incredible amount of power.  All of this
is only going to increase the rate of new intelligent devices being
created and deployed … with extreme features.  There will always
be others … but I think that embedded Linux is on a roll …