McDonald's Germany Moves to SuSE Linux

sglafata writes "Novell has made an announcement that McDonald's is moving towards Linux. 'With more than 30,000 restaurants around the globe and more than 1,200 in Germany alone, McDonald's is the undisputed market leader in the fast food sector.'"

Comments

Well now...

[abscondment]

That's really exciting--maybe they'll switch to high quality food now, too.

But seriously...

McDonald's Germany deploys SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server for DNS, FTP, and proxy services on the Internet.

I doubt that they'll replace their in-store systems. There's no real need there--most places are running something really ancient that still works. However, I wouldn't mind seing a penguin or two while I'm ordering... and, with all that money they've got, who knows?

Poor SCO

[Tailhook]

SCO has, for some time, told anyone who will listen that McDonalds cash registers run SCO Unix. Micky-dees is one of their largest customers.

Correction: WAS one of their largest customers!

When it rains it pours, eh?

Re:Poor SCO

[Mycroft_VIII]

Unfortunately Pizza Hut's systems also run sco.
Might explain why they have kept cutting back on the number of people they keep on staff in thier stores to the point where if the local hut isn't pulling down quite a few bucks you can count on slow service because they just don't have the manpower to keep up.
Just DON'T take it out on the delivery driver by not tipping or worse, tipping very poorly. I guarantee he's doing his level best to deliver as many as possible in as little time as possible. He makes his money on those tips, not the paycheck and thus the more deliveries he makes the more $$ he makes.
Still If you want to hurt sco a bit and get better service just don't order pizza hut, but tell them why. (say "stop using sco and hire enough people to do the job")

Mycroft

sales grow marketshare

[Doc Ruby]

Novell is back - they convinced thousands of businesses to network in the 1980s and 1990s. And now they're selling Linux and support to more businesses. Which will need Linux software, and pay to get it. Either in cash, to developers, or in GPL code they revise and publish. The economic network effect will see Linux value increase exponentially as more nodes in the value net grow yet more nodes, passing value back and forth among the network - all paved with Linux. I haven't been this happy about Utah and Germany swinging together since the last Olympic skiing broadcasts.

Unix vs Windows

[humankind]

It's interesting that this has come about because I had a long discussion with a friend today who was ruminating over whether to pursue a career in IS related to Unix or Microsoft.

A cursory glance of the job opportunities seemed to indicate to him that getting MCSE certification was a wiser move than going into the Unix arena. He asked me, "If unix is so much better, why are there more Microsoft-related jobs?" And is Unix the future or is this just a fad?

I couldn't help but think that in my mind, Microsoft-based corporate IT setups are often more political than practical. Yes, you'll find more jobs with MCSE but it's not because there are necessarily more opportunities. It's because Microsoft-based tech people burn out more quickly, and often the companies they work for make politically-oriented tech decisions over what is practical and economical. It's almost like a litmus test for good corporate management these days. If a big company is using Unix, that's a sign they give their IT department substantive authority to pick the best tools for the job.

It's nice to know more recognized companies are obviously asking the tech people what are the best tools available to accomplish the objective.

So Microsoft or Unix? He continued to ask me.

After some thought my resonse was, "If you want job security and choices, MCSE will give you that, but don't expect to ever get to a point where you have things under control. That's something Unix people encounter a lot more often. But one look at the stats, such as the fact that Microsoft has only 21% of the Internet web server market and shows no sign of de-throning Apache, reveals that Unix is anything but a fad. Why less Unix-based jobs? Probably because Unix admins are a happier lot and turnover in their area is nowhere near the massive burnout rate of MCSEs."

So Micky-Ds in Germany is going Unix? This is less a sign of the corporation legitimizing Unix as it is likely that a number of key executives in that region have recognized that it might be a smart move to ask the IT people what are the best tools for the job.

Re:soo...

[Syzar]

They should also include Geeko and/or Tux toys in Happy Meals.

Re:Reminds me of

[wfberg]

Windows: "The application encountered a problem and has to close. We apologise for the incovenience."

Linux : "happy meal: Aieee, transceiver MIF write bolixed"

Now come on, admit it. You'd use windows more if it gave out error messages like that. Even a simple "Ooops. We fucked up that last write operation rather badly. Sorry". Phrases like that just seem to convey a bit more feeling and sincerity than the dry corporate psuedo-regret that windows serves out.


Even better is that those "unprofessional" linux errormessages are pretty creative, and therefore pretty much unique to whatever problem you might be experiencing..

"The application has encountered a problem" is as unspecific as you can get. What problem? Perhaps suppressed sexual anxiety relating to a childhood obsession with its mother, no?

At least the linux error messages are googlable..

Micros (not Microsoft)

[gatkinso]

Don't kwow about Europe, but MacD's USA is a big customer of Micros - they make POS terminals and the "backstore/office" hardware to support it.

I interviewed there once - they seemed to have SCO Unix and NT based systems.... atleast in the dept that I interviewed in.