On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 07:44:49 -0700, C J Campbell wrote:

Well, chances are, it's actually embedded NT, but I'll defer if you
factually know otherwise. The concern is, NT has a long history of
crashing and being less than stable. This is true of embedded NT, but to
a much lessor degree. So, for someone to have concern about the heart of
an important navigation tool, I think falls well outside of simple OS
bigotry.

The Apollo MX-20 boot-up screen says Windows NT 4.0

I'm actually not sure that it makes the distinction during startup.
Technically, the embedded kernel is a slightly different animal from the
desktop/server brethren. No paging support, for example.


It has never failed. I have, however, seen the OS crash on Garmin handheld
GPS units. Frequently. To be honest, I would prefer the more stable Windows
OS.


Well, stability is always stated from a relative frame of reference.
Those that work higher up on the stability scale, tend to look down at NT
and consider it a toy OS.

All operating systems have a long history of crashing and being less than

That's simply not true. NT has a long history of having one of the worst
stability records in the entire modern history of IT, short only of DOS
and perhaps early MACs (which had no MMU).

stable. It would be interesting to know why you think Win NT would be
unstable on something like the MX-20.

That would be because the OS is known to have stability issues and is
often less than reliable.

The device is dedicated to running one
program.

Yes, but that says very little about what's actually going on under the
covers. I don't have those details so I can only say we're probably both
ignorant of what's going on there.

It has no peripherals. It never runs for more than a few hours.

This is probably one of the saving graces for it. One of the problems
common to NT, especially in the 3-4.x days, is a number of memory leaks in
the kernel. I believe I remember reading that even the embedded kernel
still suffered from memory leaks, but I would not be willing to walk out
on a limb with that assertion.

Basically, all the issues supposedly making Win NT unstable simply do
not exist on a closed box like this.

With all due respect, that's simply not true. MS has had a number of
issues with their OS, ranging from memory leaks to kernel crashes. The
important question, as it relates to this topic, does the application in
question trigger any of the known problems and/or bugs with the kernel?
Which is why I asserted that the real world performance should certainly
override the list of valid and well supported concerns. Notice that I am
not saying, never buy a device which has a MS OS in it. I'm simply
saying, use caution and let real world experience be your guide.

Personally, if I learn that a device is running a MS OS, I immediately
consider the device to be suspect until proven otherwise. That doesn't
mean that the alternative implementations (other devices) will always be
problem free. Just the same, the inclusion of a MS OS in a device should
always be treated as a yellow flag. Which means, use caution until proven
it's no longer needed.


Cheers,

Greg