MontaVista Software invented the category of embedded Linux commercialization back in 1999, and has remained the leader since then. Increasingly, MontaVista is being considered for defense applications - sometimes pushing aside the better-known Linux-for-defense suppliers such as Wind River or LynuxWorks. I had a chance to conduct an email interview with Jim Ready, MontaVista?s founder and pioneer of the RTOS VRTX. Edited excerpts follow.