Dave Korn wrote:
Jeff Law wrote:
The first camp sees FOSS toolkits as a means to help them sell more
widgets, typically processors & embedded development kits. Their belief
is that a FOSS toolkit helps build a developer eco-system around their
widget, which in turn spurs development of consumable devices which
drive processor & embedded kit sales. The key for these guys is free,
as in beer, widely available tools. The fact that the compiler &
assorted utilities are open-source is largely irrelevant.
That depends! The fact that the toolchain is open-source means we can
maintain and bugfix our releases and provide feature enhancements to better
support our customers. If we bought in a proprietary closed compiler we'd be
critically dependent on the quality of the supplier's support in order to
ensure the growth of that eco-system, an externality we might well want to
avoid predicating our success upon.
I'm referring to the customers where I've personally spent time
discussing tools issues. Obviously there are exceptions and
organizations where other motivations come in to play, or are so big
that they have sub-organizations which look at things from totally
different viewpoints. And (of course) I won't claim to have met every
organization of importance, far from it.
jeff
