Looking forward to the integrated product, the most valuable feature of developing this system under Linux must obviously be the opportunity to move source around. We can develop and test code with fast commodity desktop computers and then migrate it directly into a microcontroller target.
Looking at the development process, we benefitted greatly from the remote access and administration. This allowed developers who work several timezones away to actively test their changes against the hardware in our labs.
In combination, they allow the project manager to select
team members from a worldwide pool of skills, instead of being
restricted to the engineers who reside in (or can relocate to)
the lead company's city.