Seattle's light rail transit signs are just a full screen Chrome web browser. On another crash, I saw a Windows blue screen. Why would you pay for a Windows license just to run a browser that displays transit times?

It's what they know

It's what they want

It's what they get

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The license is such a small amount compared to the total cost of the system it doesn't matter money wise.

Maybe it's part of a way bigger infrastructure system that you don't see. Maybe they wouldn't be able to manage it remotely as easily if it was some GNU/Linux distro.

The CFP for such systems usually demand "standard operating systems" or even directly "Windows".

So that's what you get.

It's stupid, yes, those devices could be built on a Raspi, especially as of today most of those devices use TCP/IP-network for communication and not a special communication technology anymore. But any vendor in that field has his own hardware running, often Windows only, and often enough still running crap like Windows CE.

I mean its not like linux systems never crash;)

@fun2code Those Cinema displays are easier to build, they are not subject to extended temperature range or even train vehicle regulations, so they will have a standard Raspi.

For the light rail you may need a special Raspi for industrial use, but that's possible.

But most vendors stay with what they have, as long as possible.