I think that there is something that isn't being addressed here.
When one pays for something, there question that is very important
to ask and it's: "What am I paying for?"
In this case, when I pay x$ for a real-time distro, am I paying
for the physical CD, am I paying for the documentation, am I
paying the name, am I paying for support?
What is it that I get from a distro that I don't get when I download
the software package? Note that this question applies to RedHat,
Suse, Mandrake as much as for Lineo, FSMLabs, MontaVista, TimeSys
and friends. And this question really matters. After all, you are
paying for something that is out there for free (as in beer).
Well you could get a real-time Linux for free. In fact, you can
get an awfull lot of software packages for real-time Linux for
free off the net. Then you can start researching on how to install
things and how to configure them and so on and so forth. But this
takes time. Even more, this requires that you invest a non-trivial
amount of effort in understanding how these packages interact and
how they evolve.
Most people in the industry have neither time nor effort to spare.
They are already investing a substantial amount of both time and
effort in getting their product to market. This is where distros
come-in.
These shrink-wrapped packages come tested, documented and ready
to be used and there is a price to be payed for this. How this
price is made up is very much up to each individual vendor. But
do keep in mind that shrink-wrapping takes time and effort. The
fact that the price can be so low, is that the packages are being
sold to many others who need shrink-wrapped ready-to-use packages.
Moreover, with the shrink-wrapped product, you even get to be able
to contact the vendor in case of help. The vendors will even
do the keep-up work that comes as part of the Linux movement and
will provide you with an upgrade that doesn't require you to
chase packages around and see who did what, what features were
added, which changed, etc.
How much they charge should be seriously considered in light of
the amount of time a serious user would spend chasing down all
the required packages. If paying 1000$ (a high estimate) for a distro
means I save 200 hours (a low estimate) at 30$ (another low estimate),
then some engineering department somewhere just saved 5000$.
With that said, Linux and real-time Linux are free. There is nothing
false in this statement. The software is free. The time you put
in using, learning and configuring it, though, may cost. If you intend
to lower the cost of the time you put on the software, then expect to
pay whoever put the time to accelerate your work.
Cheers,
Karim
Philip N Daly wrote:
>
> Without starting a flame war ... would either FSMLabs or Lineo like to
> comment on this?
>
> The new RTL v3 CD-ROM is priced at $150. The Lineo ISG Embedix Real-Time
> CD-ROM was, as I recall, priced at the same level. However, the Lineo
> web-page online store now asks for $495!
>
> I'm not knocking either product but I cringe when I go into CompUSA and
> see a Red Hat deluxe collectors edition for > $80. Frankly, under such
> circumstances, I'm embarrased to tell people that Linux (real-time or
> not) is free (and, yes, I *know* free means freedom not price but still).
>
> Can anyone tell me how they arrived at those figures?
>
> +==================================================================+
> Phil Daly, NOAO/AURA, 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson AZ 85719, U S A
> E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] V-mail: (520) 318 8438 Fax: (520) 318 8360
--
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Karim Yaghmour
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Embedded and Real-Time Linux Expert
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