Re: preempt rt in commercial use

[Daniel James <daniel@64studio.com>]

Hi Jordan,

> Next, in the Pro-audio sector, you have Muse Research who make the
> "Recepter".  Which is a hardware VST host.

That's just one example of many in the pro audio sector (that we know
about, since the companies involved aren't required to disclose their
use of GNU/Linux - it's a competitive advantage, so they have a
disincentive to do so). Several flagship audio mixing and recording
systems use the Linux kernel, including the Harrison Xrange:

http://www.harrisonconsoles.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=51

and the Midas XL8:

http://www.midasconsoles.com/xl8.php

If you have been to see a Hollywood movie, or attended a stadium gig on
a rock band's world tour, you have almost certainly been listening to
audio mixed on a Harrison or Midas console - these companies are at the
top of their game.

RT-Linux provides significant advantage for these companies over
proprietary RTOS products because of time-to-market, not licence costs:
there are many audio software components available for re-use, leaving
the integrator to write the last parts of the code.

There's also knowledge transfer from the Linux HPC sector - for example,
the Xrange uses up to 120 Opteron CPUs, so it's hardly a 'desktop'
system. You don't get that combination of high performance and reliable,
re-usable source code with any other platform, RT or otherwise.

Licence fees for proprietary software aren't the big deal for companies
selling a relatively small number of expensive products. I think people
get confused with consumer products like mobile phones, where it's
supposedly all about volume. Actually, I think the independence of OEM's
from proprietary software vendors has more to do with it. Microsoft has
significant lock-in with consumers, and yet it still can't persuade
people to buy Windows phones :-)

Cheers!

Daniel