There's no question that Windows is king of the Desktop Market and won't lose that status in the immediate future. On the other hand, Linux is well on its way to a dominant position in the Server Market, as evidenced by its doubling of market share during each of the past two years.

But what about the third major market for computer operating systems -- the vast and largely unseen realm of embedded systems? Does Microsoft reign supreme there, as on the desktop? No way! FAR FROM IT!

Before addressing why Microsoft isn't a particularly strong player in the Embedded Market, let's take a quick look at what "embedded systems" are, and what makes them tick.

What's an embedded system?
"Embedded systems" refers to equipment or devices that you don't think of as being computers, but whose operation depends on some sort of internal computer function. Embedded systems are all around us -- in cars, microwave ovens, stereos, home automation systems, elevators, cell phones, security systems, in-flight entertainment systems, automated tellers, vending machines, medical instruments, information kiosks, . . .

The list goes on and on -- to the point where almost every electric-powered device now contains embedded intelligence of one form or another. There are literally tens of thousands of distinctly different embedded systems; each contains a highly specialised embedded computer that tends to be as unique as the device itself.

By contrast, desktop, laptop, and notebook PCs all perform the same basic job and are therefore architecturally quite similar. The main differences tend to be in the size and style of their displays (CRT or LCD), pointing devices (mouse, trackball, glide pad), keyboards, and enclosures. Though these systems run thousands of different application programs, they primarily consist of variations on a single theme -- the "PC architecture".

So, there are thousands of unique computer architectures in embedded systems, and essentially a single architecture in PCs.

The 90:10 principle
Did you know that more than 90% of all the microprocessors manufactured each year go into embedded systems, and less than 10% go into PCs? Now that might make the Embedded Market seem like an enticing target for a software giant like Microsoft.

But before jumping to that conclusion, consider the implications of the fact that the Embedded Market consists of something like 10,000 applications, potentially based on thousands of distinct computer architectures. That's a lot of projects and unique computer architectures to support for any company, even Microsoft.

You can imagine why Microsoft might prefer the PC Market with its single architecture, to the Embedded Market with its extreme fragmentation.

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