Just because some people don't know what they are doing, doesn't mean you can't run windows to drive displays.
I founded a company 9years ago that did just that and let me tell you, that we prided ourselves with never having had something like this happen!! And we deployed over 100.000 such devices!
Besides, the $15 for a windows license are irrelevant if you look at the project cost.
It also made sense from a technology point of view... .NET is great for UI heavy stuff, there is not a single media format that's not supported on windows and you get great drivers for all the hardware that's out there!
Microsoft also helps you with distribution/promotion of your solution.
And like others already mentioned...it was also easier to sell windows based systems to corporations because it was the defacto standard!
The problem with the digital signage industry is, that the barrier of entrance seems to be low and therefore everybody tries to put together his own little crapy solution. That's why the whole market is fucked up and that's also why I sold my company as soon as I could.
I founded a company 9years ago that did just that and let me tell you, that we prided ourselves with never having had something like this happen!! And we deployed over 100.000 such devices!
Besides, the $15 for a windows license are irrelevant if you look at the project cost.
It also made sense from a technology point of view... .NET is great for UI heavy stuff, there is not a single media format that's not supported on windows and you get great drivers for all the hardware that's out there!
Microsoft also helps you with distribution/promotion of your solution.
And like others already mentioned...it was also easier to sell windows based systems to corporations because it was the defacto standard!
The problem with the digital signage industry is, that the barrier of entrance seems to be low and therefore everybody tries to put together his own little crapy solution. That's why the whole market is fucked up and that's also why I sold my company as soon as I could.