Ding, ding! It's the end of Round Two in the ongoing knock-down, drag-out battle between Windows and Linux for the hearts and minds of developers building gadgets like smartphones, PDAs, firewall devices, and consumer entertainment equipment. At the moment, the contest remains too close to call.

Round One took place last July, when we attempted to gauge the success of the two operating systems in these and other non-desktop, non-server applications with a comparison chart of design wins for selected product categories. Now, we've updated the tally for Round Two to see how the conflict is progressing, and whether either of the two OSes has dealt a crushing blow to the other in one category or fallen to the mat in another. The original chart from Round 1 last July can be found here; the updated Round 2 chart, here.

In Round 1, Windows scored about twice as many punches as Linux in the realm of PDAs and other handhelds, while delivering three times the body blows as Linux in mobile phones. At the same time, Linux outpaced Windows in audio/video equipment jabs by a healthy 4:1 margin, and dealt a near-knockout blow in gateway/server devices.

With the end of Round Two, despite some fancy footwork on both sides, the relative standing of the two embedded OSes remains about even. Windows continues to own the mat when it comes to PDAs; and while both OSes have moved forward in the mobile phone arena, Windows holds a 3:1 edge. Meanwhile, Linux has increased its advantage in gateway/firewall devices, and maintains its audio/video edge. Also, in VoIP devices, newly broken out as a separate category, Windows and Linux are in a standoff, each showing up in the same number of devices.

Ding, ding! Round Three begins today. Get your ticket, place your bet. Read all about it here . . .

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.