What Is The Most Popular OS in the World?

Roland Piquepaille writes "If your answer is Windows, you're plain wrong. It's ITRON, a Japanese real-time OS kernel that can be customized for any small-scale embedded systems. According to LinuxInsider.com, it is used by more than 3 billion microprocessors found in mobile phones, digital cameras, CD players and many other electronic devices including even satellites. The article looks at the competition in this market, notably RTLinux, the real-time version of Linux, and T-Linux, an environment for running middleware. This last effort could lead to the eTRON chip, an encryption device that offers secure data transfer across wireless networks and the Internet. One thing is sure for this market: the future is definitively open-source. This overview contains more details and external references."

Featured on SlashDot before

Here [slashdot.org] and here [slashdot.org].

Cute.

Change the rules to suit the propaganda. When people are talking about OS', 99.44% of the time they're referring to PCs. Is it so hard to admit that Windows has huge marketshare simply because it's what has been put in front of the end user?

Re:Cute.

... and then you have to take into account the fact that they use the words "most popular" when practically nobody has even heard of it. Most used, sure, but isn't a requriement for popularity having people actually know about it?

-- Dr. Eldarion --

Re:Cute.

Actually the OS interacts with the programs; the programs interact then with people. People never interact with the OS.

From a CS perspective, you're correct - the OS is designed to manage resources and send program requests down to the microkernel/ISA level.

But from the contemporary perspective, the OS is a much richer bundle. Technically, using the Start Menu, manipulating files and folders on your desktop, and navigating folders in Explorer = interactions with a "program"; so are printer daemons/print queues, network interfaces, and the Control Panel. Even cutting-and-pasting is technically interacting with the clipboard "program". But these programs are so tightly bound to the OS that it's difficult to imagine a workable modern OS without them. Ask any user on the street, even sophisticated ones, what "program" they're using in these cases, and they'll all say "Windows" (or OS/X, or whatever OS they're running.)

If by "popular" you mean prolific, as does the author, then sure, ITRON and other embedded OS's are clear winners. But if by "popular" you mean user-recognizable - even software to which users may have developed an affinity - then I think Windows is still the OS of choice worldwide.

(Note: I'm clearly not a Microsoft shill - a search on my username will reveal posts/responses uniformly bashing Microsoft for a dozen justified reasons.)

- David Stein

The future.

Pretty soon everything you buy that needs to be plugged in will have one of these things in it (running Linux of course) and every Slashdot nerd's dream will have finally come true - Linux running on EVERYTHING.

-- Dr. Eldarion --

Re:The future.

Why will it be linux? From the article it appears ITRON has several considerable advantages over its competitors (I'm not sure how they can really be called competitors when ITRON is so dominant). It was designed for this purpose from the ground up and its opensource. With 3 Billion installs there cant be a whole lot wrong with it. Linux is not the be all and end all of operating systems.

Re:The future.

Linux is not the be all and end all of operating systems

Blasphemy! Say 5 Hail Linus' and kiss the holy penguin!

'most popular'?

Is something 'most popular' when people don't even know it exists? Or if there even is a choice?

It's like saying water is the 'most popular soft-drink' in the world..

ITRON belief

Does it believe in the USER?

And now there is eTRON is coming... Looks like he has been incorporated in the MCP!

Most used DOES NOT equate to most popular here

...because the users are ignorant of the underlying OS, thus tron is not the most popular OS but the most widely deployed OS. With that said, this is a duplicate article from the past, and I am sick of slashdot insulting our intelligence with stupid sensational headlines.

eTRON in French...

> This last effort could lead to the eTRON chip

etron in French means shit.

reading the article is more funny now, isn't it ?

Beat a dead horse

How many times do we have to beat the Itron horse?

Ya..its the most common.. ya.. its opensource.. ya he got screwd my microsoft... bla bla bla

But we have heard this before, many times...

RTLinux limitations

Did anyone read the part about RTLinux limitations:

"RTLinux switches tasks in milliseconds, while ITRON switches tasks in microseconds," he said. "RTLinux' footprint is measured in megabytes; ITRON is measured in kilobytes."

Funny to see someone call a Linux version bloated and slow...

misleading (?)

This may be OT, but I guess it all boils down to how you define popular. If you consider popular as "regarded with great favor, approval, or affection especially by the general public", then this rather obscure OS is not the answer, but neither is Windoze, 'cause most people don't usually make this choice, it just comes with their computers, by default. If, however, you take Webster's 6th definition ("Prevailing among the people; epidemic; as, a popular disease. [Obs.] --Johnson."), then... :)

Confusing popular with install base...

Just because something is installed on a device, then mass manufactured does not equate to the status of most popular. Most installed, most used, etc... yes. Most Popular, no.

Just trying to keep it clear.

Popular, is when people choose the OS....

..not when the engineer choose it for them.

Popular is a misleading word...

TRON is obviously the most populous in terms of all electronic devices there are. In terms of PCs, which is what OS typically refers to, Windows would be the most populous, but in terms of popularity that could go two ways. If you are defining popularity as "suited to the means of the majority" or "frequently encountered or widely accepted" that would obviously be Windows. But, if you define popularity as "commonly liked or approved" that would be Linux for the simple reason that the Linux community is much more vociferous about their passion for the OS than Windows users are. Most Windows users use the OS by default and no because they prefer it to other systems.

Is it an OS?

According to the ITRON page linked, it is an operating system specification, not an operating system.

That would make it a competitor of Posix, instead of Linux.

boycott :)

Perhaps it's time for us to Boycott this iTron and deem it the evil OS of the mobile world. Guess it doens't matter... if Microsoft has its way, iTron will go the way of Netscape, Word Perfect, and my favorite, OS/2.

More importantly

More importantly, this isn't a popularity contest. Anyone who thinks open source will win out hasn't be put to task by our corporate overlords and their flying monkey politicians.

The article is misguided

The TOPPERS/JSP kernel [toppers.jp] (in Japanese) is open source and is an implementation of the iTRON kernel. But iTRON will not be free or open source.

Popular != total number deployed...

Popular is something that's widely favoured, based on choice. While you could argue ITRON is popular amongst developers and vendors as an embedded OS, it certainly isn't the OS of choice for consumers who aren't all going out in droves demanding ITRON-powered phones.

So, ITRON, the OS with the biggest market share (based on device numbers not revenue) in the world.

Not a fair comparison

Linux and TRON don't really play in the same space. You can embed Linux only so far...

It'd be much more interesting if they'd brought in a comparison with eCos which is the natural alternative to TRON at a deeply embedded level.

http://sources.redhat.com/ecos/

Interestingly enough eCos has a TRON API implementation too.

Is this a shock to anyone?

Doesn't it also turn out that some sort of ARM chip is the most widely used CPU... by like several scale factors?

Of course I think this is all moot. It isn't like anyone is going to stick ITRON on their x86 and word process.

And if it Were Windows,

Does anyone think for a second that this article would have been posted on /.?

Umm, doubtful. /bias lives on!

Microsoft and TRON.....

Yep, MS has there hand extended to embrace TRON..... [google.com]

And I believe I read a slashdot posted article where the US suppressed the evolution of TRON...... I'm sure MS is very grateful....

more info

Pretty much any Japanese electronic musical instrument maker has used TRON. Yamaha keyboards run it, or derivatives of it, I've been told. That will change now though, with Yamaha's recent announcement that they'll be using Linux.

I've followed TRON since I was a kid hacker in the early 80's, and have watched its use in the industry with eager anticipation of the day it becomes more widely known about in the tech sector.

When Linux came into existence (I've been a Linux user since *day one* of its existence), I decided I need not stay current with TRON, which is a shame because I think a lot of the goals of TRON (E-TRON, actually, its supposed to be called) are achievable right now with Linux in the embedded world.

If ever there was proof needed of just how destructive Microsoft has been for the computer industry, it is the fact that hardly anyone in the Western Tech sector (sillicon valley) knows about TRON and what this project was supposed to achieve... and, actually, still is capable of achieving... The project is based around shared source, completely open amongst competing hardware manufacturers.

Embedded kernels running in every electronic device known to man, capable of talking to each other discretely and without human interaction, to create a sort of 'Boewulf cluster' of embedded systems capable of sharing loads and processing power.

TRON was a kick ass project. And everything we've wanted to do with TRON, we can now do with Linux.
[ Parent ]

prolific and popular are not equal...

fix the post title, man...
most used os, perhaps, popular, no.
popular denotes that the end user might have some choice in the matter, as far as deciding the OS to be used. prolific because a manufacturer predetermined for the end user.

windows might be a pretty popular, but that's mostly because OEM's don't always have a choice of which operating system they can bundle... 90% of the worlds computers are using some redmond derivative operating system, but once again, probably not always by end user choice...

mac os might be a popular choice, but it requires specific hardware... so using/purchasing the os is a much steeper entry point, however, to claim a user base(world wide) of 3-5% might be seen as being pretty popular...

linux, bsd, and other un*x derivative might also be considered much more popular than itron... why? because the end user(s) chose to install it amongst other choices.

"Popular"

popular ( P ) Pronunciation Key (ppy-lr)
adj.

1. Widely liked or appreciated: a popular resort.
2. Liked by acquaintances; sought after for company: "Beware of over-great pleasure in being popular or even beloved" (Margaret Fuller).
3. Of, representing, or carried on by the people at large: the popular vote.
4. Fit for, adapted to, or reflecting the taste of the people at large: popular entertainment; popular science.
5. Accepted by or prevalent among the people in general: a popular misunderstanding of the issue.
6. Suited to or within the means of ordinary people: popular prices.
7. Originating among the people: popular legend.

I don't think any of these definitions of 'popular' fit ITRON at all.
Nice try. Grow up and come back later.

3 billion is chump change

3 billion? So what? Linux as an embedded OS has only gained popularity in the last few years. What about all the other embedded RTOS's and OS's that have been around for years? They undoubtedly hold much more share.

Screen shot?

I don't see any screenshots on that website... *looks around*

/sarcasm>

What is the most popular post on Slashdot?

Timothy [monkey.org] writes "If your answer is Unique Stories, you're plain wrong. It's DUPES, a Canadian method of post generation that can be customized for any large-scale media systems. According to a popular geek news site [slashdot.org], it is used by more than 300 story submissions each year. The article looks at the competition in this market, notably Michael, known for not even reading submissions before posting to the homepage. This last effort could lead to the eDUPE method, an encryption method that offers secure post submission across wireless networks and the Internet. One thing is sure for this market: the future is definitively open-source. This overview [slashdot.org] contains more details and external references.

eCos and RTEMS

The Free competitors to iTRON are not RTLinux (and RTNetBSD) as the article (half fails to) point out. The competitors are eCos and RTEMS. The latter is clearly the more mature, but the former is arguably more modern in design. ECos hasn't the penetration that iTRON has achieved, but RTEMS is everywhere, and is equally invisible.

for(;;)

or its close cousin while(1) are far more common in embedded systems than itron. The infinite loop can't be beat for its simplicity and is therefore the most common scheduler on the planet.

Embedded

What about wrist watches? Most all Casio digital watches are probably derived from the same base "OS" (term used as loosely as in article). If so I'm sure there are billions of that "OS" in consumer devices as well.

Dan East

3 Billion, eh?

It may have been used in 3 billion devices like phones, CD players, etc. but how many of those devices are still in service? I've been through probably 6 cell phones over the last decade; all but one are in a landfill someplace.

Even factoring that in, however, it's probably true that there are more instances of some embedded OS in operation than any single desktop or server OS, but that's an apples-to-oranges comparasion, IMO.

eMCP

Sure, trust all your embedded devices to eTRON, but when the eMCP takes over, then you will be sorry.

What Is The Most UNpopular OS in the World?

Change the question slightly and you're guaranteed a unanimous answer!

is that the right question and answer?

1. the question should say "What Is The Most Popular Real Time OS in the World?" for the answer to be "ITRON". then i will not answer Windows and you wont have to tell me "If your answer is Windows, you're plain wrong."

2. Windows is not a RTOS. so cant compare it with ITRON in the RTOS area.

3. You have a choice as to what u want as ur OS on ur PC. but do u really have a choice when it comes to "mobile phones, digital cameras, CD players and many other electronic devices including even satellites." ???

4. This article is one of many that just want to bash Windows just because everyone else is. If u want to bash Windows there are many valid points for that... dont make one up with a false headline.

5. hey... i'm not here to carry the flag for Windows or for Linux. But there is no need to bash Windows on a false headline. So if you ask "What Is The Most Popular OS in the World?" and mean "popular" as in "chosen by users" then the answer is certainly Windows.

According to the stats..

..on my web site the most popular OS is one called "Unknown" which is used by 55.24% of visitors!

http://www.muttsnutts.com/html/stats.php

I'd be using it myself, but I'm waiting for Unknown 2 which has working USB support :)

How about "none of the above?"

By far the most popular OS choice is "none", beating out all other OS choices more than 10 to 1.

Sure there are a lot of phones, but there are a lot more VCRs, microwave ovens, toasters, printers, fax machines, street lights...
The majority of the worlds electronic equipment runs on an embedded PC and has custom designed software written in the worlds most popular computer language - assembly.

-- this is not a .sig

Windows. Pah.

Why not try Linux? Test the waters with the Knoppix [knoppix.net] Live CD (Boots off of the CD and run's completely from RAM) and if you like it move up to a beginner distribution (install wise) like Mandrake or SuSE. I've been on Linux a couple weeks now it's been mostly an easy switch with only a few text files edited by hand. Linux does everything I need. Give Linux a try - with it's wide variety of free software I think it would suit your needs too.

Re:500 Internal Server Error

Have you ever tried dying of cancer?

Re:What Is The Most Popular OS in the World?

Until, of course, nearly every electronic device that you own that uses computer logic (CD player, car, TV, possibly even your internet connection) stops working.

You've probably never heard of every amino acid you need either while picking up that two litre bottle of Mountain Dew.

You'd still regret their absence.

KFG

Re:WHO CARES WHO PAYS LINUS SALARY

Where's the facts? Gimme Links, troll!

But why would communists dirty their hands funding anyone? All good commies do it solely for the glorious revolution. They don't believe in the capitalist system!

Now we have the filthy capitalist swine making an imoral profit from Free Stuff!
Just look at Redhat, making a profit. Look at Suse, look at Mandrake... ok Scratch Mandrake they may have to learn what a the profit model looks like.
I guess you think that we should have the filthy capitalist swine making an imoral profit from only Proprietary Stuff! What is the difference?

Yes, I own stock in Redhat!

It isn't even an OS (singular)

Page 20 of the iITRON4.0 specification [www.ertl.jp] says:

The TRON Specifications define the interface of a computer, not the hardware or software it is founded on. It also defines the interface of the OS, but not the OS itself. . . .

In this sense, *TRON is best described as a family of operating systems, more like Unix, which also has a published specification to which implementations must conform in order to earn the name.

That having been said, it's also not really fair to call (GNU/)Linux 'an OS' - it's really a toolkit for building OSes. There is a huge variety of systems that are called Linux but can't run each other's programs without porting effort.

And the same can be said for Windows - 9x, NT, Me, 2K, XP, CE (and server variants, including 2003) have annoying incompatibilities between them that preclude considering them the same OS.

Re:WHO PAYS LINUS SALARY

Yea, that's pretty funny.

If someone really didn't know who pays his salary now, it's OSDL [linuxdevices.com], a group of sponsors including IBM, Dell, HP, etc.

Re:What Is The Most Popular OS in the World?

So your point is .....that if you haven't heard of it you can stay without it? I tend to laugh now..........my gosh............!!! sometimes i read jokes in slashdot!!! ya we need someone like this to keep us smiling.....

Re:Am I the only one?

Not everyone has a zipper, though pretty much everyone has a light globe.

Re:This is illegal

you know, there's nothing wrong with _having_ a monopoly, it's how you behave once you have one that's the issue