Much to Microsoft’s annoyance Linux is appearing in consumer electronics everywhere

I find it interesting to read about where Linux is showing up nowdays and think its interesting how many consumer electronics gadgets are running Linux without their users even knowing about it. If you compare to how Microsoft likes to plaster labels on everything that is “Windows XP|Vista|7 ready”, many consumer electronics are running Linux without users knowing.

I’m sure this list is only scratching the surface, but here’s a few examples of devices running Linux:

  • Tivo – we’ve had our Tivo series 1 box for something like 8 years now – it’s running constantly everyday and I can’t think of any problems we’ve ever had with it, other than hardware related when the cooling fan broke and it turned off because it overheated. Easily fixed. Other than that it’s running 24/7. Can’t imagine anything running Windows being as stable as that, and not even coming anywhere close.
  • Most Sony TVs since about 2003 (see here)
  • Palm Pre & Pixi
  • Google Android based phones
  • Many routers and WiFi hubs (eg Linksys)
  • Amazon Kindle