Andy Tanenbaum writes a defense of microkernels that (1) misses the content of Linus Torvald’s critique, (2) ignores the most relevant paper on software development,
Read moreGreenHills, foreigners, and the gummi bear threat
When GreenHills launched their anti-Linux offensive, they crossed a line – and I doubt they even knew it. To cast doubt on the value of
Read morePitiful formal methods in computer science
FSMLabs is making its way through the DO178 requirements and we’ve given a lot of thought to Common Criteria over the last couple years. One
Read moreAbove all, the SUSPENSE: Wind River’s DSO with Robert Mitchum and hippies! (updated)
I’ve been meaning to write about DSO – WindRiver’s attempt to define synthetic “standards” (see the linuxdevices article for technical detail and a more serious
Read moreAuragen computers remembered
In the early 1980s, I worked for a start-up called Auragen Computers based in Fort Lee, New Jersey. We were making a 68K based fault
Read moreThe long haul in the embedded software business.
Chris Lanfear from VDC systems asks FSMLabs has the product line, but lacks the market presence and awareness that other companies have invested in with
Read moreDigital Rights Management and Logic
The Sony DRM fiasco is due to a common failure of requirements management logic. If an engineered system relies on certain properties, whenever you add
Read morePower Point, Rocket Science and dangers of compelling stories
In American English, you can say that something is not too difficult by saying “it’s not rocket science.” We don’t have a good idiom for
Read morePriority Inheritance: Hack or Error
The subject of priority inheritance has come up again on the Linux kernel mailing list and Torvalds correctly notes “Friends don’t let friends use priority
Read moreComparing VXworks to RTLinux
A couple of years ago, one of our salesmen asked us to comment on a comparison between VxWorks and RTLinux performance that had a prospective
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