Why is XP used in so many shop terminals?

lister

Anyone else notice how often you see XP as an OS for cash terminals? Just wondered why? I know that XP has a reputation as being a solid OS, less so Vista and very good with W7

colemic

Because it came out over 11 years ago, and had vista not sucked so bad, more might have upgraded. Plus, POS terminals aren't usually resource intensive, so if it ain't broke...

ptilsen

colemic wrote: »

Because it came out over 11 years ago, and had vista not sucked so bad, more might have upgraded. Plus, POS terminals aren't usually resource intensive, so if it ain't broke...

Agreed. It's the age of the systems and the time it takes to develop a new one and train people on it. There's generally little incentive to replace them proactively. I would expect to see XP on such systems well past EoL.

There's still some 9x and NT systems out there running legacy hardware and software that organizations haven't replaced. Unlike NT and 9x, XP is rock stable and has extremely wide hardware compatibility and will for the foreseeable future.

NOLAJ

I think 5-10 years from now the same thing will be said for Windows 7. Like the others said, just solid OS's.

discount81

I was at the self paying terminal at the movies a few months back, and my terminal crashed, I noticed after it rebooted it was running Windows 98..
XP will be seen around for a while yet due to the very low adoption rate of Vista.

panik

There is also the issue of the hardware platform that these sort of device run on.

Industrial PCs and POS terminals tend to have very long life times with little chance to repair, upgrade or replace hardware. They also need to be as cheap as possible while running for years in hot, dusty exposed environments.

So they end up being PCs that are 3 or 4 years behind the latest and greatest.

It is only when it is cheaper to replace the platform with new hardware, a new OS and re-write the custom applications that they run that they will be upgraded.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Getting programmers to spend weeks re-writing a application is more expensive than you think.

Devilsbane

I rebooted one of those touch screen games that sits on the bar a few weeks ago and was surprise to see Windows 98 pop up and launch a batch file.

Complete_IT_Professional

I was in a department store a few months ago and saw their cash register computers running some kind of custom DOS program.

I just about cringed!

Corndork2

Fun fact -- Most POS Terminals used to be Windows 95, but MSFT finally end of life'd it, causing everyone to go to XP. Before that, it was Windows 3.1.

POS Terminals are so light weight and low power that they need a light weight OS. Win 7, and Win Vista are definitely not that, leaving just one other candidate -- XP. And I'm sure it will be here for quite some time longer.

datgirl

As others have pointed out, Windows XP isn't very resource-intensive, i.e. it doesn't require much memory or a powerful or newer CPU. As such I will use it as a pen-testing client, or for end-users of mine that have very basic computing needs. Of late I have also been using XP mode on VMs quite a bit, as it doesn't require a license key, its sole requirement is that the host you are running it on is genuine. XP mode info: Install and use Windows XP Mode in Windows 7

danny069

I still use windows xp because to me, it is the last raw os out there, I feel like you can do anything on it, with just 2gb ram that baby flies lol.

jmritenour

The ultrasound machine at my wife's obgyn runs Windows 3.1.

WafflesAndRootbeer

jmritenour wrote: »

The ultrasound machine at my wife's obgyn runs Windows 3.1.

A LOT of older medical/scientific/industrial/commercial equipment and associated software doesn't run on anything beyond XP. It wasn't until the last couple of years that many makers of such equipment moved to USB from the old serial ports.

blueberries

Murphy's law.

phdillard

ever use the system at a pizza place like Papa John's? It's like staring at Neo's screen in The Matrix.

tist005

Was walking through the lobby at work a couple weeks ago to find a technician working on the atm.. running windows xp. I was suprised that they don't use some proprietary or less common OS.

petedude

tist005 wrote: »

Was walking through the lobby at work a couple weeks ago to find a technician working on the atm.. running windows xp. I was suprised that they don't use some proprietary or less common OS.

There used to be a lot of OS/2 on those.

BillHoo

ptilsen wrote: »

Agreed. It's the age of the systems and the time it takes to develop a new one and train people on it. There's generally little incentive to replace them proactively. I would expect to see XP on such systems well past EoL.

There's still some 9x and NT systems out there running legacy hardware and software that organizations haven't replaced. Unlike NT and 9x, XP is rock stable and has extremely wide hardware compatibility and will for the foreseeable future.

I would agree with all of the above and add that most of the Zero Day attacks have also been worked out.

Newer OS have a lot of unknowns and when you are dealing with cash registers, you want something that has had the security kinks worked out of it.

TheNewITGuy

took the kids to chuck e cheese and most of the games run linux apparently - verified this also at a smoke shop where DDR was setup and had to be rebooted.

WafflesAndRootbeer

I just read an article that states that the majority of ATMs in the world - and almost ALL of the ones in the USA - are running Windows XP. Looks like an upgrade is in order!

kohr-ah

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The company I am at the wireless Kiosks even run on it.

When I worked at a hospital about 2 years ago the issue was custom applications needed to be updated to run on newer versions of IE which was a pain in the butt to get the company to do.