Cashpoint Running Windows XP - Guess What Happened?!

[Digger]

Einion Yrth said:

I really do not understand why the likes of ATMs run windoze, every installation carries a licence fee and it's utterly unreliable ste. Stick it on a reliable Linux kernel and save a lot of money and trouble.

FINALLY! Someone's on my wavelength

[Blown2CV]

Digger said:

Einion Yrth said:

I really do not understand why the likes of ATMs run windoze, every installation carries a licence fee and it's utterly unreliable ste. Stick it on a reliable Linux kernel and save a lot of money and trouble.

FINALLY! Someone's on my wavelength

On a purely technical level i.e. Excluding commercials, business, roadmaps, support, longevity etc etc. then yes maybe. However this isn't a part of the technical landscape where dreams come true and ideas can me made reality. ATMs are secure appliances that have long lifetimes. The OS takes a lot of effort to get into production, and it's the vendor that would bite off the cost of adopting Linux. Banks aren't going to want a diversified estate, for operational overhead reasons, and vendors are smart enough that if it was worth it for them to move their entire portfolio to another platform they'd have done it already. Windows is still around because windows is still around. I don't like it any more than anyone else does!

[anonymous-user]

K

Blown2CV said:

Digger said:

Einion Yrth said:

I really do not understand why the likes of ATMs run windoze, every installation carries a licence fee and it's utterly unreliable ste. Stick it on a reliable Linux kernel and save a lot of money and trouble.

FINALLY! Someone's on my wavelength

On a purely technical level i.e. Excluding commercials, business, roadmaps, support, longevity etc etc. then yes maybe. However this isn't a part of the technical landscape where dreams come true and ideas can me made reality. ATMs are secure appliances that have long lifetimes. The OS takes a lot of effort to get into production, and it's the vendor that would bite off the cost of adopting Linux. Banks aren't going to want a diversified estate, for operational overhead reasons, and vendors are smart enough that if it was worth it for them to move their entire portfolio to another platform they'd have done it already. Windows is still around because windows is still around. I don't like it any more than anyone else does!

You in the industry B2CV?

[kev1974]

Einion Yrth said:

I really do not understand why the likes of ATMs run windoze, every installation carries a licence fee and it's utterly unreliable ste. Stick it on a reliable Linux kernel and save a lot of money and trouble.

Is it? Is it really? How many ATMs do you see stuck on Windows crash screens on a daily basis then. I notice maybe 1 a year and even then it's usually the stty corner shop type of budget ATM. Bearing in mind it's a 15 year old OS, reliability in applications such as ATMs seems pretty damn impressive to me.

[Guvernator]

Does no one keep an emergency stash of cash in a secure place in the house any more, you know in case of problems like this or needing to pay tradesmen etc for emergency jobs?

Had it drilled into me by my parents and have been glad I did on many an occasions when I've needed access to cash quickly or in emergencies.

[droopsnoot]

Lots of these things run on embedded versions of Windows - the video games machine in my local pub used to lock up and when they did the off/on reboot thing you'd see it run through the BIOS and Windows NT start-up screens before it was ready to use. Used to be a lot of sightings of "BSOD" displays in places you wouldn't expect/want to see them - I think even last year one of the big rolling video advert boards in Liverpool Lime Street was showing one. Lots of people suggest they'd be better off running a different OS - I have my own pet OS that would be more reliable in a lot of ways - but none of the others have the backup of a dedicated team of people to go out and get these deals with the ATM / games machine / whatever manufacturers.

[GlenMH]

Yup - including infotainment systems on cars. My old Honda Civic was running Windows CE.

[Blown2CV]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Digger said:

Einion Yrth said:

I really do not understand why the likes of ATMs run windoze, every installation carries a licence fee and it's utterly unreliable ste. Stick it on a reliable Linux kernel and save a lot of money and trouble.

FINALLY! Someone's on my wavelength

On a purely technical level i.e. Excluding commercials, business, roadmaps, support, longevity etc etc. then yes maybe. However this isn't a part of the technical landscape where dreams come true and ideas can me made reality. ATMs are secure appliances that have long lifetimes. The OS takes a lot of effort to get into production, and it's the vendor that would bite off the cost of adopting Linux. Banks aren't going to want a diversified estate, for operational overhead reasons, and vendors are smart enough that if it was worth it for them to move their entire portfolio to another platform they'd have done it already. Windows is still around because windows is still around. I don't like it any more than anyone else does!

You in the industry B2CV?

i'm very close to this particular subject matter yes!

[anonymous-user]

Blown2CV said:

i'm very close to this particular subject matter yes!

Me too

WN

[Blown2CV]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

[Craikeybaby]

GlenMH said:

Yup - including infotainment systems on cars. My old Honda Civic was running Windows CE.

My first job after uni was developing the HMI for a Windows CE based automotive infotainment system - using Flash...