[Gllug] Is my cheapo router really caching DNS?

[John Edwards]

On Sun, Aug 31, 2008 at 10:42:09PM +0100, Alistair Mann wrote:
> Chris Bell wrote:
>> On Sat 30 Aug, Alistair Mann wrote:
>> 
>>> I've seen a twelve-quid router use linux, 
>> 
>>    Why not? Try buying the components used to build that router, without
>> counting manufacturing costs. Still think it would be worth using any other
>> OS?
> 
> You're saying Because Twelve-quid, Ergo Linux?
> 
> I can imagine WinCE as the basic OS in a strategy that involves 
> free-as-in-beer licensing, risk transfer and co-op branding being 
> directed at the home-infrastructure market ahead of a later push both 
> into business-infrastructure, and into premium-charging for a now 
> popularly-desired commodity: WinCE-branded routers.

Are there really any routers running WinCE in the real world?

I've used WinCE, and it has all the networking ability of Windows 3.1
(and almost as much usability).

Most of the ADSL routers I've seen (Netgear, D-Link, Linksys) run
a Linux or BSD based OS.

These all come with a full networking stack (including a firewall),
command lines tools you need, several light weight web servers.

It would cost a manufacturer serious money to write these for a
low power Windows system, so either Microsoft would have to offer
a lot of money or write them themselves. And efficient programming
is not really their thing. Most of these systems only have between
4MB and 16MB of RAM. Nothing Microsoft wrote since DOS would work
on that.

Also what on earth would Microsoft get out of these for all that
money and trouble? ADSL routers are commodity devices, with low
profit margins, and not exactly high visibilty. For most people
you set them up and they just sit in the corner until they break,
at which point you buy another one.


-- 
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|    John Edwards   Email: john at cornerstonelinux.co.uk    |
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