The original ZDNet article focused on the "five C's -- complexity (or rather, lack of it), control, customization, cost and community," said to be working in Linux's favor.

Carroll, a regular ZDNet blogger, notes in his retort that with most of the source code released under a Shared Source license, customization is no longer an issue with Windows CE. And since Shared Source does not require modifications to be shared, it's a better deal for vendors wishing to maintain their code as proprietary.

Carroll adds a sixth "C" -- consistency. He points out that Linux in the mobile space is even more fragmented than it is on the desktop, and that's no way to build applications that require native access. "Ecosystems in software demand consistency, particularly if they compete with ecosystems that have a high degree of it," Carroll writes.

He makes a number of other interesting points. Read Carroll's complete blog post over at ZDNet:

The Microsoft embedded freight train.

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