Another favorite in embedded systems: lock the 4K page at address 0x00000000 so the processor halts execution when someone ends up dereferencing a NULL pointer.
Frequently have to move the IVT around to make this work, but well worth it.
As a slightly off thread, I always wondered why Intel bought windriver. One of the issues we have is that finding someone who knows the OS well is difficuilt because there is no way of getting exposure to it unless you have a lot money.
Intel has loads of cash and a near monopoly on processors in most major market segments. They need somewhere to grow and PCs and servers isn't it. The big segments they are weak in are mobile (or more generally, low power) and networking.
VxWorks is very common in networking equipment and in embedded (low power / low processing capability) systems.
I can see where WindRiver looked attractive to Intel. Of course, the risk is that they scare traditional VxWorks customers off by focusing WindRiver too heavily on x86 processors.
Being a good general purpose OS kernel doesn't mean it appropriate for _all_ purposes. Control systems are generally better off using an RTOS.
Linux has certainly gotten much better in the last few years, but it's not a one-size-fits-all best answer.
Um, no. That has virtually nothing to do with MS's dominance in the market.
Probably the biggest single factor was getting PC makers to pre-load Windows on computers. Most folks just use what the PC had on it when they bought it. That created a huge market for application developers.
A big part of the problem is customers complain mightily when network devices congest (drop packets). Congestion is easily monitored. Additional latency is much harder to measure and most customers are less likely to notice it.
Less support calls == better margins
For some devices, it's clear that the engineers that built it don't understand networking very well and that's where the problem crops up. For others, it reduces pain on the field support organization so, in some ways, customers are doing it to themselves.
"Ninety percent of baseball is half mental." -- Yogi Berra
