Thank You, 2005

Unbelievably, the year is nearly over. It's time to look back, reflect, and give thanks. Here's what I'm thankful for in 2005:

• The DSO.com site is now six months old and going strong. I'm thrilled to be part of the DSO community.

• We have a great new story that explains the software problems behind Toyota's recent recall of 75,000 Prius hybrid cars. You can read it here: Behind Toyota's Software Recall.

• The New York City subway and bus strike ended yesterday. Now I can finish my last-minute gift shopping.

• It's nearly time for Christmas and Hanukkah. Happy holidays to everyone!

Posted at 11:19 AM | Comments

The Trouble With Apple -- and the Industry

About a week ago I wrote a love letter here to my new Apple iPod nano. But this week I'm dipping my pen in poisoned ink. At stake, unfortunately, is a lot more than just my foul mood. What's happened to me (described below) is happening on a far grander scale at device makers. They too are struggling to create working solutions from disparate components and software that they've sourced from multiple vendors. It isn't pretty.

But first, my problem. Last week I discovered that my iPod desktop software had messed with my WinXP PC, causing all audio files, no matter their source, to be played just a little too fast. A four-minute pop song, for example, now plays at about 3:50. The beat is a audibly faster than it should be, the voice cartoonishly high.

I went looking for a solution on Apple's iPod discussion boards and FAQ pages. I did find other people complaining about too-fast playback, and I got a little consolation from knowing I'm not the only one with this problem. Then I found an Apple article about too-fast playback with Dell machines; fine, except my PC is not from Dell. Then I found another Apple article that acknowledged the problem may occur, gave a couple of vague suggestions, and concluded by urging the reader to get help from their hardware vendors. Maybe the PC vendor, maybe the maker of an audio board, maybe—who knows—someone else.

I was starting to lose my patience. I counted to 10, then calmly emailed Apple iTunes Support with a polite note describing my problem, telling them I had already found their articles, and asking for their help. Here, in part, is the reply I received: "The nature of your question falls outside the type of support provided via email by the iTunes Music Store team. We encourage you to consult the following article for more information...." (Needless to say, the article they recommended was the same one I told them I had already read.)

So let's review: Apple sold me an iPod, associated desktop software, and several sound files at a cost of $1 each. Then my PC, unmodified except for the addition of the Apple software, started to malfunction. Apple, when informed of this, has not only refused to help me, but also insisted that the solution come from some other company. They're happy to take my money; but now that my computer isn't working correctly, I'm on my own. Thanks, Apple.

I'm just one guy with his music player. But what happens when we magnify this problem across entire departments, companies, industries, nations? Imagine "the nature of your question falls outside the type of support provided" repeated 100,000 times a day, endlessly. Developer blood is boiling from coast to coast, across the sea, in every city, wherever device software is found. Won't somebody help?

Posted at 03:00 PM | Comments

Linux and Loving It

Linux rocks. Linux is open. Linux is standard. Linux is (pretty much) free. And embedded Linux is now a $100 million business.

That $100 million figure comes from our friends at Venture Development Corp. In their latest report, VDC predicts the market for embedded software services used in the development of Linux-based devices will exceed that $100 million mark this year and "grow significantly" by 2007. Impressive.

Other Linux predictions from VDC: When the year is closed, the Americas will shape up as the largest market for commercial Linux software this year. Wind River will give market leader MontaVista a run for its money. And Linux providers will face competition from, among others, semiconductor vendors, board vendors, and good old Microsoft.

Want more? View VDC's executive summary here. And see if you don't love Linux, too.

Posted at 01:33 PM | Comments

Hardware + Software = An Experience

Attention, device makers: Hardware alone isn't going to cut it anymore. In the last week, I've heard this from Steve David, a senior advisor at Boston Consulting Group. I read it from Gartner's John Barber in this EE Times news story, Gartner: SoC Makers Must Include Software. And I've seen it first-hand in the iPod nano I recently received as a birthday present.

Gartner's Barber, speaking at a Gartner Dataquest semiconductor industry briefing in San Jose, warned system-on-chip makers that "hardware will become more and more of a commodity," and added: "The key differentiation is in the software."

David of Boston Consulting was speaking at a half-day CXO summit in New York last week entitled Mastering the Real-Time Web. As part of his presentation, David mentioned design firm IDEO, whose output includes the first Macintosh mouse, Palm V, and Humalin insulin pen. IDEO, David said, takes goods and services, then "wraps them around" a product. As an example, he compared two music players: Rio and iPod. Rio sells a perfectly good MP3 player. But what Apple really sells, according to David, is information and content.

As I mentioned, I've been fortunate enough to snag a hard-to-get iPod nano. I've found that the nano, like all Apple products, is more than just a product; it's also the key to a community that, seemingly, has been waiting for my arrival. Now I not only have a nano, but also an iTunes account...e-mails from Apple suggesting new content I might like to download...an ecosystem of add-on products to choose from (protective skins, chargers, headphone-cord winders, etc. etc.)...even a special floor just for Apple products in J&R Computer, my preferred local retailer here in New York. The iPod nano is not just a product; it's an experience.

I have seen the future, and it plays my music.

Posted at 01:25 PM | Comments

McDonald's Picks WinXP for POS; Enea Demos Element; VDC Proposes Research; DSO 'Awesome' in China

Here's a roundup of late-breaking DSO news: McDonald's Corp. picked Windows XP Embedded for its POS terminals worldwide. Enea is giving its first demos this week of Element middleware. VDC is proposing its 2006 research on embedded software. And DSO is reportedly getting an "awesome" response in China.

McDonald’s has picked Windows XP Embedded as the foundation for a new point-of-sale (POS) platform. In this Microsoft press release, McDonald’s says it selected XP Embedded, in part, to work with a single vendor that can provide a wide breadth of solutions for its restaurants. McDonald’s has previously deployed Windows XP Embedded to several thousand devices across Europe and Asia; now the fast-food company plans to roll out the Microsoft OS for its worldwide standard POS platform. Dave Weick, the McDonald’s CIO, is quoted saying: "Windows XP Embedded is a great fit for McDonald’s as we look to provide our customers more convenient options—from cashless payment to gift cards to whatever may come next."

Enea plans to give the first public demo of its Element high-availability middleware and application development framework at the AdvancedTCA Summit this week in San Jose. Element eliminates the need to develop custom middleware in-house, providing a commercial off the shelf (COTS) solution that enables telecom, automotive and medical equipment manufacturers to slash software development cycles by 50 percent or more, according to Enea. More details in this Enea press release.

Venture Development Corp. is proposing its 2006 Embedded Software Market Intelligence Program. Topics to be covered will include Linux, RTOS, software-development tools, and middleware, as well as vertical markets that include auto/transport, consumer electronics, and telecom/datacom. But there's no mention of DSO, at least not yet. Sponsors get a price break on the final reports, can revise and review several research tools, and receive research updates. Learn more from VDC's Market Research Proposal.

I keep hearing that DSO resonates with Chinese and Indian companies. In fact, John Bruggeman, CMO at Wind River, is in China this week for the company's regional developer conferences, and in his blog says the response there has been "awesome." In fact, John believes China is adopting DSO faster than any other country, period. Read his full entry: Made in China.

Posted at 11:17 AM | Comments

Connecting Consumer Devices: Still Too Hard

The wired home sounds great. Home entertainment systems bring us streaming video, on-demand movies, TiVo'd TV, the latest music downloads, games, and more. Home wireless networks let Junior send IM on his notebook upstairs while Dad pays the bills on the desktop downstairs and Sis shops on iTunes in the living room. Home-control systems let us set thermostats, night-lights, and more from a central PC. But there's one little problem. Getting devices from multiple vendors to work on a network is way too hard for the average educated consumer.

I've seen this (and suffered) first-hand. After I read the umpteenth article about how easy it is to set up a wireless network, I bought a wireless router and tried to connect my desktop and notebook computers. Simple, right? No. Many hours later, I gave up, and ended up returning the gear to the store. A few months later, I tried again, this time hiring a local technician who assured me he was a networking expert. He finally got the darned thing working, but it was touch-and-go for a while there, and he confessed that it was one of the most difficult jobs he had ever done. Whatever happened to easy?

I'm not the only one complaining. According to this article on news.com, speakers at the Digital Living Room conference this week in San Francisco, were singing the blues, too. Don Norman, a co-founder of the design-consulting firm Nielsen Norman Group, confessed to being unable to set up his home network. (That makes me feel a bit better.)

What's to be done? Vendors must work together. How likely is that? Not very, said Gartner analyst Van Baker, a panelist at the conference. He pointed out that vendors can't even agree on a standard for power plugs.

Meantime, there's great demand for local computer guys to set up home wireless and entertainment networks. If they can figure them out!

Posted at 01:00 PM | Comments

Linux Devices, Windows Contest

What's new? Linux users want more device support. Wipro has ported its Linux mobile-phone framework to Renesas hardware. And Microsoft has extended the registration deadline for its Windows Embedded contest for students.

* Is a lack of device support hurting Linux? Yes, say new survey results from the Open Source Development Lab (OSDL). The survey, conducted by OSDL's desktop Linux working group, got more than 3,300 replies, a third of them from developers. When asked, "What mobile device support is needed to meet your business users' needs?," slightly more than half the respondents said PDAs with e-mail and messaging capabilities; nearly half said digital cameras and video recorders; 45 percent said personal storage devices; and a third said smartphones (the total exceeds 100 percent since multiple replies were permitted). To learn more, download OSDL's summary of the survey results (PDF format), and see especially Question 18 (the devices question) on page 12.

* Renesas Technology of Japan and Indian outsourcing vendor Wipro Technologies say they have successfully ported Wipro's AQUA, a Linux-based mobile phone reference framework, onto Renesas' SH-Mobile Series application processors for 2.5G and 3G mobile phones. So licensees can now build Linux phones around SH-Mobile. Learn more from this press release.

An interesting wrinkle: Wipro does outsourcing work for DSO vendor Wind River, which recently introduced its own commercial Linux for devices. For background, see these older DSO.com stories: Is Indian Offshoring Deal First Shot in Wind River vs. Microsoft Battle? and Linux Announcement Excites the Mobile-Phone Grapevine.

* Microsoft extended the deadline for its Windows Embedded Student Challenge to January 22. First prize is a not-bad $8,000. Entrants should be undergraduate teams of four students with a faculty mentor who have designed a computer-based system that solves a real-world problem. Learn more and register on this MS contest page.

Posted at 01:47 PM | Comments