> the real-time/embedded devs wanted to use some crazy board that couldn't run anything useful (proprietary modified version of C compiler) Lots of chips have

> the real-time/embedded devs wanted to use some crazy board that couldn't run anything useful (proprietary modified version of C compiler) Lots of chips have proprietary compilers. Something as simple as an MSP430 fits that description, which would probably be a choice driven by battery life requirements. I'm sure you checked with the embedded devs before you "ditched" their "crazy" approach, but did they have any reasons behind it?