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Linux To Run Sherwin-Williams Cash Registers
oilfieldtrash writes "According to this news article on Yahoo!, Sherwin-Williams will upgrade their point-of-sales systems to Linux ...
'Sherwin-Williams Co., the No. 1 U.S. paint maker, plans to convert its computers and cash registers in more than 2,500 stores to the upstart operating system in the next year and has hired International Business Machines Corp.'s services division to do the job.'"
This is part of a continuing pattern that I've noticed. The major corporate entites which are embracing Linux aren't normally leaving some variant of Windows behind but instead are dropping Unix. The stranglehold Microsoft has on Office and the problems introduced by switching from Windows to Linux (in terms of a possible inability to access old files) is really hurting Linux in the War against Windows. But what these companies need to realize is that they can convert their old files into plain text files, using the very version of Office which is trying to tie them into an ugprade cycle of doom, using some simple batch scripts. This would be quite a chore, obviously - but in the long run companies would save. I don't know why this solution isn't being offered to companies. From what I understand, many companies are hesitant to drop Windows for this very reason: loss of access to old files. But again, Bill Gates doesn't really lose on this one. Linux gains some but not in the area where I'd like to see it.
Sherwin-Williams can only sell the color Blue.
I currently admin a few stores that run a POS (Piece of Sh*t) POS (Point of Sales) program called Microbiz. It runs on Win9x, and it is an unstable piece of junk.
We need to migrate to a new software due to the fact that support will be stopping on our current software within the year. I know there is LinuxPOS, but has anyone tried it? We need a full featured POS app for a small/medium size business.
Things like this give me much hope, as I have always thought that Linux is the ideal point of sales software: it is stable, can be no frills, has good user access control, and the network and remote admin can be made easy.
Linux, while it may not be the most used for gaming and multimedia, may have a niche in the POS market. In my view, it would be the perfect OS for the retail environenment.
Moon Macrosystems. Sun's biggest competitor.
Embedded GUI systems is an area where Linux can shine. The lack of a consistent UI between general-purpose Linux software packages and the sometimes-problematic configuration and administration is simply not an issue in a dedicated machine like a point-of-sale terminal. I expect Microsoft to lose a lot of sales in that arena.
I hadn't even thought of cash registers and other point-of-sale systems but it figures. They need utter reliability and 100% up-time.
There is no way anybody is going to trust the collection or the handling of cash or credit card transactions to machines that are as virus prone and crashable as anything M$ puts out.
The PATH system of trains between New York and New Jersey uses some M$ box to display information to riders on iys trains and M$ is prominently displayed in all its glory when the big monitors hanging over the platforms get "Blue Screens of Death." Tens of thousands of people ride the system every day. That's GREAT advertising for M$. -NOT!
I wish somebody would replace these with some Linux servers so we riders could get systems we can use and trust.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Really, at the end of the day, nobody gives a shit what OS the POS is running: as long as it's doing it's job, who cares?
Very much like the server market - as long as it works, nobody gives a damn what OS is running.
I'd say this is an ideal niche, and there's no reason to use anything *else* on a POS, is there?
Hexayurt - open source refugee shelter,
From the article:
But, he said, Linux isn't being asked to do too much high-stress computing here. "It's just a nice, low-cost platform for doing kind of everyday computing."
Sooo... if they actually needed it to do anything other than the computational equivalent of a nice picnic, they would gone for a "serious" OS?
Like Windows?
In addition, the International Business Machines equipment won't use Advanced Micro Designs processors, but will be compatible with Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. No comment was made by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing.
The hardware store Lowes has used Linux for sometime now, on the machine they use to take job applications. The machine is an IBM running an X system with some modified version of Netscape. The GUI is a Motif type environment (you can tell just by the buttons). I took my ex-gf down there one day so she could apply, and I watched as she went through the screen. The cursor is just an X, indicating its just a bare X system... Basicly.
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Is this a sig?
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I worked at RadioShack for a brief stint and this is what I saw at the POS system.
a Tandy machine (no idea on speed) running Win95. It crashed REGULARLY. It was fun watching Scandisk do its thing while a customer is waiting.
The interface is a custom app that pulls its inventory data off of the 'server' sitting in the back room. To do this, each POS was networked to the 'server' in the back room. For some reason, each POS also had Serv-U FTP server running on boot. There was no cashdrawer interface as the cashdrawer was a SINGLE wooden drawer behind the desk with a 'fingercode' access inhibitor. All you needed to do was pull with your middle finger pulling the most.
IF anyone else worked at RS, tell us about it, i'm curious about the current RS situation.
--sig fault--
...is perhaps more interesting and is becoming more widespread.
Reuters recently announced that it's market news aggregation system (RMDS) is being ported to run on Linux servers. The system currently is running on Solaris and was ported to Windows (but the Windows port is no longer support/persued)
This is just the latest example of the financial industry turning to Linux. Morgan Stanely, Credit Suisse, E-Trade, the NYSE have all started to move to Linux.
It's true that the migrations are generally coming out of the hide of Solaris and AIX. IBM is coming to terms with Linux, and recent signs look hopeful that Sun will follow suite as well.
I suspect that the economy has had a hand to play in the receptiveness of the big players in the financial industry to start looking to Linux-based solutions: everyone is looking to save money right now, and I think it's no accident that the financial industry seems to be taking the lead in terms of being early adopters of Linux in the enterprise.
I can only hope that with the trend towards moving systems over to Linux, these business will be exposed to open source ideals, which -- who knows -- might one day lead to MSFTs fall from dominance.
Isn't it plausible that while Linux may be eating Unix's lunch, this gives it a better chance to spread open source/free software ideals in a new environment, which -- in the long run -- might be what takes the *big* chunk out of MSFT's hide...
All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself. - Johann Sebastian Bach
What will be interesting is how the support structure pans out. Everyone knows that you need staff to support your servers. So if they're running Linux, you need someone who is competent in that. But since you've got to have this person anyway, surely they could do some support of the desktop machines. For example, those which are only used for word processing. So long as the user isn't going to be installing new software, or switching between multiple applications, who cares what OS your WP program runs on?
The odd thing about this is that people say that Linux is OK for sophisticated users and not for the newbies. I'm inclined to think that it's the other way around. So long as your user has to use the same application every day, and doesn't get the opportunity to change things, Linux has to be better (file formats permitting of course), because it's cheaper. So it's the unsophisticated users who can be switched to Linux first (as proved by the POS successes; you don't get any more unsophisticated than swiping past a barcode reader), because they see less of the OS than the sophisticated users.
Reality is defined by the maddest person in the room
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