If you're an experienced Linux user, QNX will delight you. QNX RTP uses a Linux-compatible command-driven "shell" for many operations, and its file hierarchy is almost the same. But what makes QNX visibly different from Linux is its beautifully designed graphical user interface.

QNX Neutrino was picked to power 3Com's Audrey Net appliance. And alliances with the likes of Palm and Cisco are widely rumored. Embedded operating systems are designed to be hidden from users. So if you haven't heard of QNX Software Systems Ltd.'s QNX Neutrino, you're not alone.

I'd just finished speaking to an embedded developer who'd chosen Linux over QNX because the last thing QNX's Neutrino is is Free Software. For another, the folks behind QNX have made no bones about what they consider a key distinction between their product and Linux: that pesky GPL.