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Major Retailer Chooses Linux for its Tills
An anonymous reader writes "ZDNet is running an article on how Matalan has installed several thousand point of sale terminals running Linux rather than Windows. The reason? Reduced cost of ownership. It was a big consultancy that did the work, Capgemini, and IBM on the kit side. Sounds like some people can get Linux to work in an 'enterprise environment' after all."
Point of Sale systems are really not enterprise level software or whatever. Usually the simpler it is it the better. Using linux for Point of Sale systems are just a good idea, first you can make linux very basic without the crap. Having it in a small factor allowing it to run on cheap systems, without the extra junk in the way. But to say this proves the linux is enterprise ready because of these is just silly. Most Point of Sales systems are running on DOS.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
No, POS is a completely unimportant step for Linux acceptance. There's almost zero network affects to such deployments, and nobody's going to adopt Linux because that's what their cash register runs. The main competitors are DOS and SCO UNIX -- it's not like a big profit center for Microsoft or anything.
There was a time that 90% of ATMs ran OS/2 -- didn't help OS/2 acceptance one bit.
Simple: Advertising. And, I guess, user perception. But mainly advertising.
I agree with the function/performance argument. The new ATM's do seem slower, especially in transitioning from screen to screen. But people like them better: they're more friendly! And the color screen makes the bank look better. Forget selling you on a loan or something: just the fact that when people walk down the street and see a bank's ATM's, they're bright and cheerful.
People select products based on such factors. And banking is a competitive business, like most any other.
Linux IT Consulting and Domino Development in Michigan
So a system...used by enterprises....is not an enterprise system...
Not true. You do NOT own the software under copyright law. You own the hardware and the disc the software is distributed on. All of the software you run is licensed from third parties, albeit under a very permissive license.
This is the same as with a book. You own the paper it is printed on, but the content is not yours, but you are using it with the copyright owner's permission. In-fact, that was a bad analogy on your part. The GPL is much less restrictive than normal copyright law under which the contents of a book are normally redistributed.
It doesn't matter whether you use software under the most restrictive license in the world or the most permissive, unless you write it yourself or have the copyright assigned to you, you don't own it.
This applies to BSD software too. Ownership of a piece of software implies ownership of the copyrights, which isn't, and couldn't be, granted with the GPL, or any other software license for that matter, since ownership has to be transfered through a contract, not a license.
Point of Sale systems are really not enterprise level software or whatever.
Crikey, first in the ssh story, now here.
If big businesses like Matalan rely on this software, then it is "enterprise-ready" by definition.
Seriously, "enterprise-ready" is a meaningless buzzword that is twisted to mean whatever the speaker wishes it to mean. When the proprietary ssh company was talking about openssh not being "enterprise-ready", they meant "apart from the fact that massive organisations like Cisco etc rely on it". When you are saying that thesse systems are not "enterprise-ready", you mean "apart from the fact that massive organisations like Matalan rely on it".
If there is any meaning whatsoever to the term "enterprise-ready", then these systems fit it. They cannot be simultaneously relied upon by enterprises like Cisco, Matalan, etc, and not be "enterprise-ready".
Surprising....you read Slashdot yet you have never heard of Google.
Why would you run any general-purpose operating system on a point-of-sale terminal?
It's much cheaper to use an existing OS than developing a custom OS. There isn't even any reason to develop a custom OS, considering both Windows and Linux work quite well for such applications. Not to mention, you can use cheap off-the-shelf hardware and drivers instead of having to develop your own.
For that matter, why would you use an x86 CPU in a cash register?
Maybe because it's cheap and easy to develop for?
The new Windows ATMs are 3 times slower and 100 times less reliable.
They also don't look fugly, are easier to use, and probably cost less to maintain.
One wonders why the rush to abandon the old software that worked perfectly well.
Legacy custom-developed software is typically a money pit. What if all that crap is coded in Assembler for some obsolete CPU? What if you need support for modern networking protocols?
"Sounds like some people can get Linux to work in an 'enterprise environment' after all."
Who (besides Microsoft and their paid shills) have you heard arguing that Linux doesn't work in the enterprise? Linux is somewhere in the server room at any place big enough to have a server room. What people do argue is that Linux on the desktop isn't ready for the enterprise - but that's not what this is. A cash register isn't a desktop (though it might run on desktop hardware), it's a single purpose machine that's going to run one application only. Linux has been doing well in the embedded market for a long time, and that's essentially what this is.