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Microsoft Launches RFID Software Project
securitas writes "RFID Journal reports on the first Microsoft RFID software pilot project. Microsoft launched the six-month pilot in December with KiMs, Denmark's largest snack food producer. Microsoft plans to bring the new RFID-enabled supply chain management software (Axapta Warehouse Management) to market next year, targeting small- to medium-sized businesses. The news comes after Microsoft announced its Smarter Retailing Initiative, tools based on RFID and .Net Web services. More on this latest development at CNet and InformationWeek."
[Pilot-Project Test Warehouse in Denmark]
PHB: OK, the new MS inventory system automatically ordered 15 semi-trailer loads of Kotex Ultra Thick & Fluffy With Wings. Make sure we have room for that shipment.
GeekSlave: But.. Sir, we sell snack food, not..
PHB: Don't question the system; do you know how much it cost?!
Trolling is a art,
hmmm lets see 2000000 rfd tags at $399.00 for each license comes too ....
"It's so convenient to have a system where everyone is a criminal" - A. Hitler
Microsoft AND RFID bashing all in one thread. Woohoo!
Life in Orange County
news from the CNN today: Microsoft Patents the RFID supply chain management process!
You RFID the food itself, not the wrapper, that way you can track its journey through your system and beyond!
[ Don't reply to this ]
well, with walmart and microsoft onside it's pretty much inevitable now...
It's only inevitable if you support the system.
Buy from locally owned stores.
Buy locally produced products.
Support companies owned from within your country.
Don't support the big multinationals. They view consumers as nothing more than cattle at the trough.
It's no suprise that Levi Strauss closed its last US manufacturing plant after getting in bed with WalMart to make cheap jeans so consumers could save a couple of bucks while putting their neighbours out of work.
Trolling is a art,
even if your not using bloatware
pallet #245 has 300 items on it, how many bit is each rfid tag? 32 bits * 300 items (a bit over 1kB) per pallet (big items or small pallet) 64 bits? (over 2kB) what about the pallet of kazzos, 100000 * 64 bits (~800kB per pallet).
how large will the tracking databases have to get?
pallet #245 makes 3 stops before it gets to the final reseller, warehouse 1,2 and 3 then add 2kb per pallet of this product to each of their databases as they track it.
oh well, hard drives are cheap, bandwidth is cheap, heck even privacy is cheap (at the rate we watch it being given up, you'd think we where giving away air)
This is good news for the small and medium-size businesses that might not otherwise spring for a more expensive, market-leading solution from a provider like Manhattan Associates. If a smaller biz can jump on the RFID-enabled supply chain bandwagon early in the game, it offers an opportunity to develop their relationship with the big boys like Walmart.
That said, it's definitely not an easy thing to implement and realize savings from. It requires a real white-board redesign of how your product flows from supplier all the way through to customer. I'm sure there will be many examples of companies falling on thier faces doing this, spending resources on capabilities that they never end up fully utilizing.
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
RFID tags can be a very useful tool in some industries. In the field I work it has the potential to save millions of dollars. But, here comes Microsoft. To have them involved usually means some proprietary standard pushed and all kinds of licensing costs. This I don't like. The licensing fees alone could negate the profits the technology is even good for.
Evolution or ID?
... That they were going to embed RFIDs into the software CDs.
Having a key in the chip that's required to decode the CD would be an interesting variation of the dongle concept.
If there was a cheap USB RFID reader that shipped with the S/W it might even be practical.
They view consumers as nothing more than cattle at the trough.
Strange thought: perhaps that's because many Americans are cattle at the trough... consider the inevitable stampeding over Friday-After-Thanksgiving sales. The sad thing about modern marketing? It actually works. People are, in general, so apathetic, that they are glad to be treated like cattle, insofar as they get shiny things.
Now, before I get modded flamebait, please consider what I've said, and recall that I am not ranting against any one person, but against the state of the society as a generality. Thanks.
#define DRM chmod 000
the privacy implications of RFIDs now that I know that Microsoft will be running the software that tracks them. And I look forward to my secure computing/Palladium/RFID implant. I know that my unimatrix team can help assimilate unique biological species to enhance the collective. I'm Five of Twenty Six Adjunct. Welcome!
Since the biggest retailer on the planet is mandating RFID, it only makes sense that the largest software company will get on board too..
Just good business sence in this case.. noting much to see..move along.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Q: Can I microwave products to kill any hidden RFID tags they might contain?
A: While microwaving an RFID tag will destroy it (a microwave emits high frequency electromagnetic energy that overloads the antenna, eventually blowing out the chip), there is a good chance the the tag will burst into flames first. The difficulty of destroying a hidden RFID chip is one reason we need legislation making it illegal to hide a chip in an item in the first place.
I am looking at this story and thinking: "they never learn".
.Net architecture and a virus is released it means that while they aren't all the same, the virus can be easily altered to fit that system, especially with the number of systems that are being networked.
While I understand Microsoft is a well known brand name that people trust, I must ask the inevitable question: "Why do they trust Microsoft?"
Surely the people ordering these products must know the poor reputation MS has for quality control. Think back to Windows 95 Revision A. Type a password that is 99 characters or more and it skips the authentication. Or perhaps the numerous bugs that fill Outlook, MS IE and so many of their other vital products. Yes they can make computing easier and I wouldn't hesitate to point someone who is new to computers to Windows due to the simplicity you must also ask yourself if it is that simple then it probably shouldn't be used on critical systems and frankly ordering is fairly critical.
I remember when a bank used MS software on some of their ATMS and the machine began shooting out money. I am not sure what was the root cause but surely it is tied to the fact that MS's OS was installed.
There is also the question of interoperability. If you have a computer that runs Windows XP, a bank machine, a cash regsiter, an ordering system and a security system that run Windows
On a similar note some of you may have seen the newer cash registers that use some very simple operating system I have noticed a significant number of lockups on these machines whereas when I used to work at a coffee store we used a simple electronic cash with LED number display and I think we had a total of two lockups, one was caused by a paper jam.
It was that diversity of operating systems and the lack of availability of some of the more commercial ones that gave them a sense of security. Not to mention most of the "OSes" were so simple (because they needn't be any more complex than a calculator to work) that it was very hard to cause problems save for a few isolated cases.
Do we really need this many systems running computer software when a calculator can work just as efficiently? I have no problem with people who want to put an OS on something to say "we can!" but perhaps we ought to ask ourselves: "should we? Do we really need it?" before touting the benefits of something like this.
I don't want this to sound like I am just bashing MS, quite the opposite, I praise them on their marketing ability and their general ingenuity but perhaps we ought to think:
Do we really need Norton AntiVirus on our cash regiters?
Publishing warehouse management software with support for RFID is not exactly a big deal. The software presumably had a barcode module before, and now they've added an RFID module. So what? It's just another way to do the same thing. Warehousing is where RFID makes sense. The trouble with RFID has never been in the supply-chain side.
RFID only becomes a problem when active tags escape the market and remain with the end user. Escaped tags are a hardware problem, not a software problem, and trying to bash Microsoft for supporting RFID in warehousing software is just silly.
There are so many good reasons ro bash Microsoft that there exists no need to conjure up bad ones.
With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter. -- William Lloyd
Well it seems that one of SCO's only decent markets (Retail POS systems) is going down the pooper. If Microsoft convinces the large retail chains that having a Microsoft managed inventory and POS system will be benificial, SCO is further screwed (but who do I root for?) My apologies to any red headed step-children.
Sigs? We don't need no stinking sigs!
That's interesting. Somehow you made it sound like the perfect opportunity for an OSS project. Huge list of options that no one will ever use, commercial versions going bust right and left, stingy target demographic, not easy to implement, etc.
I think maybe someone should reserve a space on Sourceforge for RFID.
It's no suprise that Levi Strauss closed its last US manufacturing plant after getting in bed with WalMart to make cheap jeans so consumers could save a couple of bucks while putting their neighbours out of work.
This is so much oversimplified crap. No matter how much money we save on an item it's just going to get spent on something else.
Lower prices are great help to low income families.
And who says that the person who gained a job because of the extra Wal-Mart business doesn't deserve it just as much as your neighbor?
the real problem is factoring the total cost of the product. not just the price.
ask yourself if the "cheaper" product:
since there are viturally no laws demanding disclosure by manufacturers, calculating the real cost of products is a left to a lot of guessing and assuming.
my general rules: look for the union tag, pay too much, avoid dubious materials (pvc fr instance), dedicate yrself to buying one for the rest of your life when possible.
2 1337 4 u!
People seem to have got it in their heads that these tiny grain-of-rice sized RFID tags will let CIA satellites track your every movement and interaction via your underpants, which is just crazy. The detection range of an RFID tag that you can comfortably include in an item of clothing is about 20-30cms, depending on the model and the size of the antenna. For the ones that are enclosed completely in glass capsules, it can be as little as 10cm - and if retailers want cheaper tags, this range is going to go down.
Since the range that a passive RFID tag can be read at is proportional to the amount of power that the reader puts out, anyone who wanted to read one of those tiny tags from 100m away would have to fire so much microwave radiation at you that you'd be too busy bursting into flames to care about the invasion of privacy. All an RFID tag really does is identify an item of clothing that you buy, not you. That item of clothing could be given as a gift, shared between partners or sold in a thrift store - the information you can get from tracking it is so abstract in it's focus and massive in it's volume as to be nearly useless.
Besides, stores already have a way of tracking you. They're called 'Credit Cards'.