The design, integration, and deployment of embedded-system software presents many challenges related to the operating system, development environment, middleware, compiler, and other software tools. Although you can purchase commercial software products to meet many of your requirements, you might find that open-source tools offer the optimum approach to some or all or your embedded software needs. But be sure to evaluate the tradeoffs before committing to a specific approach.
Commercial software generally comes with training and support. On the other hand, with open-source software you’ll assume more development responsibility—but you can seek support from the open-source development community. Taking a mixed approach, you choose a commercial software package and employ open-source plug-ins or opt for versions of open-source software maintained and supported by a commercial software vendor. Several companies, for example, offer commercial versions of the open-source Linux operating system.