Comment Re:Just use Linux (Score 2) 30
Exactly, and this goes hand in hand with deterministic behavior.
I can test and tune a microcontroller-based system and after that can be certain that it will behave almost identical if deployed in a remote location, inside a larger machine, etc. With a linux-based system there are many more moving parts, some driver can run several threads in the background, on x86-hardware there are the NMIs that can cause a lot of jitter, etc.
Most likely there will be pressure from both sides, a Teensy microcontroller is almost as powerful as the early Raspberry Pi systems. On the other hand a Pi Zero is less than $10. So there is quite a bit of overlap already but running a full OS like Linux does not feel like the solution to every application.