Embedded GNU/Linux - drawing the big-picture

Embedded GNU/Linux has become a serious option for industrial applications. It´s virtues are performance and stability. But, are stability and performance alone sufficient reasons for management to consider it a serious alternative to proprietary solutions? This paper gives an outline of what makes GNU/Linux valuable for industrial applications. Needless to say the outline is not complete. It would be an easy task to fill the requested six pages with references to successfully completed industrial projects alone! This article will try to create the big-picture of embedded GNU/Linux and embedded real-time Linux. The intent is to show that GNU/Linux is more than just a stable operating system. Rather, it is a rich and complete system of development tools, architecture specific components, debugging and testing environments, and, last but not least, source and project management software as well as services. The aggregate sum of these is the strength of GNU/Linux, a fast evolving resource pool that is based on the solid foundation of the free software idea.