On Wednesday 08 May 2002 10:03 am, you wrote: > On Wed, 8 May 2002, Jim Crumley wrote: > > Actually, most ATMs in the US run OS/2 [1], so I doubt that they > > are running 8088s. > > > > 1. > > http://www.atmmarketplace.com/research.htm?article_id=10811&pavilion=29&s > >tep=story > > this article is bullshit, > > for those who did not read this acticle; it talked at length about the > "merits" of using windows software, here are some quotes from the article: > > "Works well with others", "Guaranteed > Compatability", "You know it's going to work with any of the third-party > products out there", "Using Windows-friendly tools like HTML and XML" and > later it says "While it's technically possible to create custom OS/2 > implementations that allow for use of such tools, it's a complicated and > expensive process" > > and so on and so forth... pretty much a plug for MS software if you ask > me.... > > -munir > Well, yup. MS has a large, well-paid, professional staff to market it. And given the obsolescence of OS/2, there's really no question that ATMs are going to be going away from it (and Microsoft is, unsurprisingly, aggressively pursuing the market). To where? Well, it's an interesting choice, looked at in the abstract. MS will be around in ten years, and in the interim, there's lots of programmers and companies doing Windows stuff -- many fewer doing Linux. Linux is more stable, of course, and while the cost of a Windows license is not going to show in the TCO of an ATM, a hundred-or-so-dollars per unit saved can add up. Two years ago, the answer would have been easy: a startup, planning on offering Linux- or BSD-based ATMs could have raised the necessary venture capital. (Probably BSD would have been a more likely corporate choice; they'd probably want to make their software proprietary, which is very straightforward under the BSD license, and at least a little less so if you start with something based on the GPL.) And would probably have been bought out by one of the market leaders. (Either to adopt or kill the project.) Now? Well, my guess is that MS is going to lock that market up.