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.'"

Comments

However as part of the agreement with IBM....

[b0r0din]

Sherwin-Williams can only sell the color Blue.

What POS software will they run?

[laserjet]

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.

Re:Not Exactly A Win For Linux

[iabervon]

I think it's great that companies are switching from proprietary UNIX to Linux, because it's an application where they have genreal familiarity with the interface and so forth. Once Linux is a proven technology in their company, they can consider Linux as a replacement for Windows. The places where they are using Windows are places it is not feasible to switch to commercial UNIX. This will give people the opportunity to run the same OS everywhere, since it is not too expensive for the desktop and stable and secure enough for the servers. Once IT is using Linux for the critical systems, they won't want to support Windows as well. Microsoft doesn't lose anything on this deal, but their competition is being replaced with a much tougher competitor.

Furthermore, POS terminals are a market that MS would like to own: the user interface matters and commercial UNIX is impractical (unless the terminals are just thin clients of a single server, which limits the UI possibilities). The fact that companies are chosing Linux as the OS with an interface that's fast, easy to use, and powerful, on cheap hardware, has got to hurt.

Re:Not Exactly A Win For Linux

[cybermage]

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. ... I don't know why this solution isn't being offered to companies.

I've got karma to burn, so here goes...

Converting old files to plain text is an incredibly bad idea. Even if your only talking about .doc files, you need to understand that there is meaning in format. If you cannot take the formatting with you, you're not preserving the meaning. Simple example:

Life of Brian is excellent.
Life of Brian is excellent.

Now, beyond the issue of the simplest kind of old files, consider things like spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, Accounting data, etc. Converting these files to plain text will render them useless.

If you want businesses to move to Linux, look back at how we got here. There was a time when nothing was done on computers. Why start? Everyone could use a pencil. All typewriters worked more-or-less the same way. Businesses didn't start using computers because they were cool. They didn't start using them because they were cheaper. They started because computers could do things faster. Computers represented solutions to problems. What your proposing is to make a problem out of a solution. You won't get businesses to agree to problems in order to save money.

If you want to see a mass migration to Linux, here's what you need:

• standard file formats - Linux tools need to open/edit/save Microsoft formats. It is still my hope that Microsoft is forced to cough up their document formats to a standards body as a result of the anti-trust suits.
  
• cloned interfaces - Linux tools need to perform tasks in an identical fashion to their Microsoft counterparts. Corporations will be very reluctant to retrain their entire workforce in exchange for a free OS. The applications need to work the same.
  
• inter-operable OS - provide emulators to run legacy applications. There's a reason why knowledge of Cobol was needed before Y2K: Some old, proprietary applications cost way more to replace than 1000 years of OS upgrades. For many companies, their data is trapped inside computers they don't even understand. Once common applications have turned into black boxes. Make it so they can copy the application and it's inseperable data.
  
• education - Linux needs to be accessible to educators to share with students. Schools, libraries, and colleges all receive generous donations of Wintel computers. Children are taught from an early age that Windows == Computer. They learn their tools under Microsoft's guidance. There is, however, a back door. Community Colleges are chartered to teach what the community asks for. Businesses who've embraced Linux and OSS need to ask their local community college to get their future employees ready. Invite educators to tour your business and sit with your people.