Those ZoomSystems iPod vending machines that we once gently mocked are both more successful and more ubiquitous than we thought they'd be. Still, it seems they aren't flawless. Reader & iPod shopper Kristopher decided to give one of the machines at his local mall a try; unfortunately, as soon as he started using the touchscreen, a familiar error screen appeared, and then... well, you can see what's underneath the pretty surface.
[That's a joke, in case our visitors from Digg are confused. While there are plenty of Point Of Sale systems for the Mac, I don't actually know of one that's intended for vending-machine deployment, and even a Mac Mini is a bit high-end for the build cost of vending machines. That aside, it's probably not the best call to go with XP for a vend setup either...]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-30-2007 @ 5:45PM
Aaron said...
Use OSX? I hope your kidding. They would have to through a mac mini or something in their. What a waste of a good computer.
Reply
4-30-2007 @ 5:56PM
Ahmad said...
haha, how ironic.
would that be considered irony, or just coincidental?
Reply
4-30-2007 @ 6:10PM
Leonard Nimrod said...
That is ironic, but not surprising. In fact, I would have guessed it ran XP/2000 or a version of Linux.
Reply
4-30-2007 @ 6:48PM
David Schloss said...
That's coincidental, not ironic. Ironic would be if an OS X Point of Sale vending machine were run on Windows.
You know, Apple doesn't make these vending machines, or stock them, or deploy them or otherwise run them. It's no more odd than the fact that you can buy a Mac at a computer store like the (RIP) CompUSA and their terminals run on Windows.
Reply
4-30-2007 @ 7:14PM
T.Allen said...
Yay they finally found a use for windows!
Serving the needs of Apple Products and their users.
Reply
4-30-2007 @ 7:35PM
Greg G said...
The funniest part is that the only reason they figured it out was the pretty bsod (I assume this is what the "familiar blue screen" is).
Reply
4-30-2007 @ 7:58PM
Ed said...
Its not even running Service Pack 2 (notice the Copyright message still says the year that XP was released, 2001, they removed that in SP2 as I assume they were embarrassed that they hadn't released a new OS in 5 years). So, someone might be able to hack it and get themselves a free ipod :)
Reply
4-30-2007 @ 8:40PM
Ahmad said...
how can you even read the copyright message from that picture? I thought it was running SP2 if it didn't have "Professional" on the start up screen.
Reply
4-30-2007 @ 8:40PM
Macskeeball said...
@David Schloss: Actually, I've heard that at least some Apple Stores have handheld Point-of-Sale devices, and those devices run Windows CE.
Reply
4-30-2007 @ 9:22PM
Why even try said...
I concur. Pretty much any POS system out there is either Windows, DOS, or maybe UNIX. Not gonna happen for MAC, yet another thing that it can't do.... The only reason Apple is still above water is because of the Ipod which i think sux ass. Not saying the Zune is any better either. Go for the ZEN!
And it is Irony not coincidence.
Reply
4-30-2007 @ 9:28PM
dispontainious said...
well, it isn't that big of a deal. I mean microsoft does own like 1/3 of apple (i think it might be more). so either way, they still get the cashflow
Reply
4-30-2007 @ 9:37PM
Leonard Nimrod said...
@ Apple Blows and dispontainous,
Where do you guys get your misinformation from? Apple was holding billions in cash so the 150M in stock wasn't salvation, but a show of good faith of MS' part. They had to hold to hold onto it for x many years. It was all sold many a year ago.
Reply
4-30-2007 @ 10:16PM
Michael Rose said...
Wow. Had I known what kind of troll bait this picture would be, I'd never have posted it...
:-)
Reply
4-30-2007 @ 10:29PM
Gareth said...
"Sure, lots of retail kiosk applications use XP, but c'mon -- for an iPod sales system, shouldn't Mac OS X be the first choice?"
Who the fuck gives a shit? I can't believe I actually dignified this blog with traffic.
Reply
4-30-2007 @ 11:24PM
Steve Shickles said...
NOOOOO... Say it isn't so
Reply
4-30-2007 @ 11:59PM
Chris H. said...
Well in my opinion. Windows can kiss my left...(you get the idea)
Secondly and more importantly. You really wouldn't even need a Mac mini to manage something like that. Hell, you could take an iPod and maybe somehow get an OS installed on it. Something basic to run something like a vending machine certainly couldn't cost all that much nor would the code take up that much space.
Factor in the times that a vending machine has stolen your money, plus the cost to send a repair guy out there to service it, parts and labor, and all that. You could have just bought your company another iPod, drag and drop an image of some software, and plugged it in.
Just a thought.
Reply
5-01-2007 @ 12:17AM
ChooseandWatch Mitja said...
When you want a system that's dependable and reliable, use a Windows machine. When you want a fanboi, slow and buggy POS system use Mac OS X.
Reply
5-01-2007 @ 12:17AM
Jon said...
What's even more worrying is that my local bank's ATM machine runs Windows. I know this because I once got a C++ Runtime Error whilst using it.
Reply
5-01-2007 @ 12:28AM
Michael Rose said...
In this case, POS = point of sale.
Reply
5-01-2007 @ 6:28AM
Scot said...
It is sp2,the flash bar is blue.Sp1 and before is green.So many people don't know what they think they do!
Reply