Embedded XP faster than linux ?

03 Sep 2008
Straight from Planet Debian:

no matter how optimized the software base and compiler options, no matter which build environment was used (Thin Station, Open Embedded, Gentoo, etc.), we couldn't get a performance that was remotely usable:
 * Boot time goes well over a minute, which is way too slow.
 * The graphic environment is sluggish, to say the least.

...

Then came the proposal from our team's lone Windows guy: XP Embedded. Booted in less than 10 seconds, has a graphical environment that is usable out of the box and integrating the customer's application was a breeze.

(http://q-funk.blogspot.com/2008/09/another-tux-bites-dust.html)

This is very interesting. I always assumed that Windows software was clunky, but it appears to be very well optimized (in the embedded world)
Something new for the embedded linux people to shoot for: beating Windows XP Embedded