Reaching into small spaces

Linux is now tops for gadgets. The open-source software may spur lower prices and more updates

You may not know what Linux is, but there's a good chance you use it every day. It's not a household cleaner or a prescription drug, but a form of software that is spreading beyond corporate computer networks into electronic devices such as personal digital assistants, TiVo boxes, navigation systems and home routers.

Before long, it could be in your cell phone, too.

"Just about everyone in the developed world is encountering embedded Linux in some form or fashion every day," said Chris Lanfear, an analyst for technology market research firm Venture Development Corp.

And that's good news for consumers.

Although Linux-based devices are virtually indistinguishable from those that run on other kinds of software, the Linux infrastructure should bring down the cost of many high-tech gadgets. What's more, users benefit from more frequent updates by device manufacturers and the possibility of new and better software options in the future.

Linux is developed and refined collaboratively by programmers around the globe. Known as "open source" because the internal code is open to review and revision, the software stands in sharp contrast to products such as Microsoft's Windows, where the code is heavily protected.

Most of the buzz about Linux focuses on its use as the foundation of big computer systems. Raleigh-based Red Hat is the world's largest distributor of Linux-based operating systems for servers and computers, and its software is showing up in devices, as well.

Embedded Linux, the term that describes the software when it's used to run electronic devices, has been growing in popularity for about five years.

Whereas traditional embedded operating systems are growing at a rate of 12 percent to 13 percent a year, embedded Linux is growing at a 20 percent clip, Lanfear said. It now ranks as the top operating system for devices in surveys by VDC.

The technology has been embraced by well-known names such as Sony, Motorola and Linksys.

But most of the time, Linux is an invisible presence in electronic devices.

"Your average consumer who walks into Best Buy doesn't really care about the operating system," said Malachy Moynihan, vice president and general manager of Linksys' home networking business unit. "They don't really know there is an operating system. They look at a router like you look at your toaster."

That's precisely what's making embedded Linux so successful, said Mark VandenBrink, senior director and lead architect for Motorola mobile devices.

"I think in the embedded world, it is the invisible ubiquity," said VandenBrink, who compared Linux to the power grid. "It's just there. It enables all this innovation on top of it and doesn't try to draw any attention to itself."

Improving TiVo

But for the really tech-savvy shopper, devices built on open-source platforms can open up a whole new world of possibilities.

Device manufacturers must make the Linux software code in their products available to the public, and that means tinkerers can develop complementary software applications or even tweak the device's operating system itself.

For instance, programmers might revise a router's underlying software or write a new program that makes TiVo better at picking other shows that viewers might like.

"Open source is going to have tremendous implications for consumers, whether they know it or not," said Bob Sutor, IBM's vice president of standards and open-source software.

Companies say that most consumers aren't interested in hacking into their devices to make major changes. Motorola's VandenBrink estimates that 10,000 people worldwide are interested in changing the underlying software on cell phones, and even fewer are interested in downloading those changes to their own phones.