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On Tue, 26 Oct 2010 12:53:12 -0700, Darren New wrote:
> You would be amazed at how many cash registers, ATMs, and even vending
> machines are actually running Windows.
Yep. And airline information boards (always fun to see one of those
bluescreened) and here in Utah, the light rail system ticket kiosks as
well.
I had an interesting discussion with a guy who works for Red Hat last
week about this as well - seems odd to us that the banks are willing to
spend so much money on Windows licenses for kiosks when such tasks are so
trivial that an OS like Linux which can be set up as a simple appliance
fairly easily.
(Of course it's not just about the technical challenges but also about
support)
Jim
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Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] dev null> wrote:
> >> Wikipedia asserts that many newer ATMs run Windows - which would be
> >> extremely disturbing if true...
> >
> > You would be amazed at how many cash registers, ATMs, and even vending
> > machines are actually running Windows.
>
> Why on earth would you pay vast sums of money to use software that only
> provides features that you don't actually need?
to blame someone. Plus, the Aero interface is sexier. oops...
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On 10/26/2010 3:45 PM, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Hmm, I may have missed a step: How about a telephone? It's not a
> computer, but it sort of talks to one. How many people can't work a
> telephone?
Talk to someone who was around when phones switched from a switchboard
to rotary dial, or from dial to push button. May be hard to find
someone, but I bet they will give you a list of complaints similar to
what you hear about computers.
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On 10/26/2010 8:54 AM, Stephen wrote:
> On 26/10/2010 2:59 PM, Invisible wrote:
>> On 26/10/2010 12:54 PM, Le_Forgeron wrote:
>>
>>> People pay ATTENTION when it's about their money!
>>
>> You'd think so, but not necessarily. ;-)
>>
>> (I've heard stories of people putting the receipt in their wallet,
>> throwing the cash in the bin and walking off before they realised what
>> the hell they just did.)
>
> I don't know if I believe that.
>
Seen it, nearly done it. lol
--
void main () {
If Schrödingers_cat is alive or version > 98 {
if version = "Vista" {
call slow_by_half();
call DRM_everything();
}
call functional_code();
}
else
call crash_windows();
}
<A HREF='http://www.daz3d.com/index.php?refid=16130551'>Get 3D Models,
3D Content, and 3D Software at DAZ3D!</A>
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On 10/26/2010 12:52 PM, Darren New wrote:
> Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> So can everybody use an ATM because it only performs a very simple
>> task? Or because the people who make them spend a fortune on usability
>> testing? Or something else? Logically, there's got to be a reason.
>
> Some of each. The simpler and more focused the task, the easier it is to
> design something that is easy to use. Especially when you throw
> sufficient UI at it. The "flashing 12:00" problem is that manufacturers
> didn't want to add extra buttons and displays to the box. Once people
> had a 40-button remote control and a genlock in the VCR, that stopped
> being a problem.
>
Seriously? No, the problem with the flashing 12:00 thing was design
laziness. I still buy shit with this problem, the stupidest version of
it being the "DVR" that "set its time, based on the local PBS".
***BUT***, it only ever did this one time, after which it would, for no
comprehensible reason, slowly lose about 3-4 seconds per day, so that,
after a month, you would be looking at a 2 minute difference between the
time it "should have" shown, and the one it actually did use.
Apparently, they must have figured that the best way to "fix" the clock
in the damn thing was to completely remover the clock, you know..
instead of something silly, like having it check every 24 hours, to see
the time, then update the BIOS clock, in what is basically a computer MB...
No, manufacturers flat out didn't feel the need to fix it, never mind
that the means to do so has been out there for ages. My frakking alarm
click uses a basic radio signal thing, to set the time (some USGS thing,
or something), and stuff has been doing that for 50 years or more.
The reason you don't see the problem now is.. Ironically, that most
actually manage to use PBS, or some other channel, to set the time now,
or its a cable box, which gets the time from the central office. Still
doesn't stop them from failing to store, even temporarily, a DB of say,
the channel names, and basic data for the week, so if the power goes
down, you don't have to wait 12 hours to tell what will be on 2 hours
from now, never mind 2 days. Sigh... Figure, by the time they fix this,
someone will invent a new sort of media, and TV will end. lol
--
void main () {
If Schrödingers_cat is alive or version > 98 {
if version = "Vista" {
call slow_by_half();
call DRM_everything();
}
call functional_code();
}
else
call crash_windows();
}
<A HREF='http://www.daz3d.com/index.php?refid=16130551'>Get 3D Models,
3D Content, and 3D Software at DAZ3D!</A>
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On 10/26/2010 12:53 PM, Darren New wrote:
> Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> Wikipedia asserts that many newer ATMs run Windows - which would be
>> extremely disturbing if true...
>
> You would be amazed at how many cash registers, ATMs, and even vending
> machines are actually running Windows.
>
No kidding. You can tell at the store I work at. Not just when you have
to reboot, and it says so, but by the fact that updates to the registers
lag the whole network, printing daily reports.. lags the system for
hours *after* the process completes, pressing the wrong button causes
the entire secondary "customer" price listing screen to malfunction and
show Cyrillic, or something.. Its a damn mess, and I am constantly
surprised that the whole system doesn't crash (well, more often than
once ever 6 months, which *does* seem to happen).
--
void main () {
If Schrödingers_cat is alive or version > 98 {
if version = "Vista" {
call slow_by_half();
call DRM_everything();
}
call functional_code();
}
else
call crash_windows();
}
<A HREF='http://www.daz3d.com/index.php?refid=16130551'>Get 3D Models,
3D Content, and 3D Software at DAZ3D!</A>
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On 10/26/2010 2:35 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Tue, 26 Oct 2010 12:53:12 -0700, Darren New wrote:
>
>> You would be amazed at how many cash registers, ATMs, and even vending
>> machines are actually running Windows.
>
> Yep. And airline information boards (always fun to see one of those
> bluescreened) and here in Utah, the light rail system ticket kiosks as
> well.
>
> I had an interesting discussion with a guy who works for Red Hat last
> week about this as well - seems odd to us that the banks are willing to
> spend so much money on Windows licenses for kiosks when such tasks are so
> trivial that an OS like Linux which can be set up as a simple appliance
> fairly easily.
>
> (Of course it's not just about the technical challenges but also about
> support)
>
> Jim
Support? Oh, you mean, "Turn it off, wait 30 seconds, and turn it on
again. Unless the web service the kiosk is "actually" running from is
down, this should fix it (well, at least for a few days...)"
--
void main () {
If Schrödingers_cat is alive or version > 98 {
if version = "Vista" {
call slow_by_half();
call DRM_everything();
}
call functional_code();
}
else
call crash_windows();
}
<A HREF='http://www.daz3d.com/index.php?refid=16130551'>Get 3D Models,
3D Content, and 3D Software at DAZ3D!</A>
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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Why on earth would you pay vast sums of money to use software that only
> provides features that you don't actually need?
Because it provides the features you *do* need.
When I was working with the vending machines, nobody made a device that
would take in bills and make change that could be driven from Linux, for
example.
Plus, if you pass the cost on to the customer, it's not that big an expense
compared to buying the machine and the software *you* wrote to start with.
If you're selling a $5000 machine with $9000 of custom software on it, are
you really going to bitch at $75 of Windows licenses?
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Serving Suggestion:
"Don't serve this any more. It's awful."
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Jim Henderson wrote:
> Yep. And airline information boards (always fun to see one of those
> bluescreened) and here in Utah, the light rail system ticket kiosks as
> well.
Well, everyone has their problems. I've not been on an airplane flight in
the last 5 years or so that the Linux-based seat-back system didn't have to
be rebooted in flight, for example.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Serving Suggestion:
"Don't serve this any more. It's awful."
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Sabrina Kilian wrote:
> On 10/26/2010 3:45 PM, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> Hmm, I may have missed a step: How about a telephone? It's not a
>> computer, but it sort of talks to one. How many people can't work a
>> telephone?
>
> Talk to someone who was around when phones switched from a switchboard
> to rotary dial, or from dial to push button. May be hard to find
> someone, but I bet they will give you a list of complaints similar to
> what you hear about computers.
I met someone who didn't know how to turn on a cell phone just a couple
years ago.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Serving Suggestion:
"Don't serve this any more. It's awful."
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