Huge Swath Of XP Machines May Go To */Linux

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Robert Pogson

The imminent demise of XP has many thinking, even businesses like banks. “ATM operators would like to be able to synchronize their hardware and software upgrade cycles. But that’s hard to do with Microsoft dictating the software upgrade timetable. As a result, "some are looking at the possibility of using a non-Microsoft operating system to synch up their hardware and software upgrades,"” These guys have thousands of machines depending on M$ for software and M$ is about to pull the rug out from under them. The costs they face are much more than software licences. Their hardware might work with “7” or “8” but if the machine’s not at end-of-life, they don’t want the software to be at end-of-life. They want to replace hardware much less often than M$ whereas */Linux doesn’t care. It’s Free Software. They can run it, examine it, modify and distribute on their schedules, not M$’s.

See ATM operators eye Linux as alternative to Windows XP.

See also 95% of bank ATMs face end of security support

About Robert Pogson

I am a retired teacher in Canada. I taught in the subject areas where I have worked for almost forty years: maths, physics, chemistry and computers. I love hunting, fishing, picking berries and mushrooms, too.
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7 Responses to Huge Swath Of XP Machines May Go To */Linux

  1. wolfgang says:
    March 24, 2014 at 5:49 pm

    …lots of gibberish…

    using general purpose operating system in special purpose device is stupid way to go. whether windows or linux, still stupid. creating driver for component is piece of pie, too. oodles of code snips come from device manufacturer for free to help customer who buy component. if you not know that then you never design driver.

    atm not big problem to design. only one process, namely run atm. maybe handle priority interrupts from lan and interface devices, but nothing complex to do so can do at priority interrupt level without scheduling background task to run. designers these days are cowards who have to have windows APIs for every little thing. good luck chips overpower inefficiencies and everything appear to work like lightning.

  2. oiaohm says:
    March 23, 2014 at 2:39 pm

    wolfgang usb port in ATM’s would have been in there for diagnostics and updating. Due to the places where ATM’s are mounted sometimes it is impossible to place diagnostics ports on back or in other hard to reach locations. Mind you it should be in a hard to cut to location and its like a trade secret where those ports are.(as if that stops people finding out) Yes the magic idea of security by obscurity back again instead of doing proper secuirty.

    If you build a OS from nothing you also have to build all the driver support. The cheapest parts are normally somewhere in the currently mass produced. OS/2 and relations was used in ATM before XP. XP took over due to more hardware support than OS/2 and relations .

    wolfgang you have to go back to 2003 to see why groups ATM makers choose XP instead of Linux. Mostly lack of touch screen drivers. If the ATM makers do go back and sit down and do the compare they did in 2003 at the Moment Linux does have the broadest hardware support. So free was not good enough back in 2003. World is not constant. There is fairly much no good reason for ATM makers not to go Linux. There are good reasons for ATM makers to stop using Windows. Like requiring more ram to run the ATM.

    Modern ATM’s also display bank advertising they are no longer a single task item we have not seen single task ATM’s in a very long time.

  3. Robert Pogson says:
    March 23, 2014 at 1:25 pm

    wolfgang wrote, “atm is single-task sort of activity. why have operating system at all?”

    Because everyone knows they need to run multiple processes, even on an ATM. It needs to talk to HQ even as the customer is poking it. One can programme a stand-alone application with loops for the various processes. I have done that, but it’s much more flexible to have some code, call it a monitor, platform or OS, upon which all the applications can have a standard API and resource-management. That flexibility costs very little with GNU/Linux so why not use it? A Linux build can still almost fit on a floppy, so bulk is not a problem. RAM is so cheap and plentiful these days. A huge advantage of Linux is that it will run on just about anything so it makes the platform more portable for the next generation and the Linux distros all have reliable means of updating software. Compare that with that other OS that goes out of its way to prevent upgrading, especially without paying for an additional licence or even a few licences. There are lots of advantages for FLOSS.

  4. wolfgang says:
    March 23, 2014 at 9:12 am

    …very interesting….
    but for the wrong reasons. atm is single-task sort of activity. why have operating system at all? just need operating program running all the time. seem kind of stupid to have usb port where have to cut hole in front to reach, too. maybe designed by oiaohm?

    next mystery is why atm makers use xp. if they too stupid to just make operating program for task, why they so stupid as to not use free? maybe free not good enough, so they pay for better?

    then if they really all that stupid, then how would they suddenly get smart to do something else?

  5. Robert Pogson says:
    March 22, 2014 at 9:21 pm

    Banks: “We would like to have the choice of running a non-Microsoft operating
    system (e.g., Linux). 9%”

    That’s not a huge fraction but there are also those that are clinging to XP until they absolutely have to move (23%). They could move to GNU/Linux to give them a platform more under their control. You’d think that when ~50% think costs and complexity are huge issues $0 and simplicity would be appealing…

    When asked, “Which statement best identifies your organization’s opinion regarding the future direction of the ATM operating system environment?”, 17% vendors/service companies responded, “We would like to have the choice of running a non-Microsoft operating system (e.g., Linux).” That’s better. Asia-pacific financial institutions were the least locked-in. 19% want to be free to choose GNU/Linux.

    There’s also something strange about the PDF. It’s created by ADOBE so it may be that Acroread could make more sense of it, but when I searched for “Linux” in the PDF with two different applications “Linux” appeared in places I could read as shown above but also in “We will need to begin migrating to Windows 7 or 8 now or within the next two years. 14%” You can see it highlighted in green at the lower right. What’s with that? A bug? A “note” or other feature of PDF? I ran it through strings and could not find that extra string. Anyone have Acroread? I could only find a 32-bit download. Adobe is so old school… I also read their licence and nearly wretched. =:( e.g “2.2 Server Use. This agreement does not permit you to install or use the software on a computer file server.
    …
    For the avoidance of doubt, and by example only, you may not use an Adobe Runtime on any (a) mobile device, set top box (STB), handheld, phone, web pad, tablet and Tablet PC (other than with Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and its successors), game console, TV, DVD player, media center (other than with Windows XP Media Center Edition and its successors), electronic billboard or other digital signage, Internet appliance or other Internet-connected device, PDA, medical device, ATM, telematic device, gaming machine, home automation system, kiosk, remote control device, or any other consumer electronics device, (b) operator-based mobile, cable, satellite, or television system or (c) other closed system device.”     I guess that means I can’t run it on any GNU/Linux computer… Almost every GNU/Linux computer is a file-server, eh? A notebook could be mobile, eh? A PC is connected to the Internet, eh? eewwwww… I installed it on a 32-bit machine and found search also finds Linux in the text. It seems like an editable text-field or something… Strange. I deleted it all and feel better already.

  6. lpbbear says:
    March 22, 2014 at 7:30 pm

    Moved a WinXP laptop to Linux last week.

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