Following the lead of start-ups and low-budget projects, the embedded-system-development community has now adopted the use of open-source software, which has gained a substantial foothold in that area. People have developed scores of high-volume consumer products with free software that anyone can download from the Internet. Readily available source code, innovative programming, easy adaptability, and zero recurring costs are a few of the reasons adopters cite for basing their projects on this alternative to proprietary software. Although free software may seem like a panacea, skeptics point to licensing and support issues that may dim the hopes of some product developers.
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