Filed under: Humor, iPod Family, Flickr Find
The soul of an iPod vending machine
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...]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Aaron said 5:45PM on 4-30-2007
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.
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Ahmad said 5:56PM on 4-30-2007
haha, how ironic.
would that be considered irony, or just coincidental?
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Leonard Nimrod said 6:10PM on 4-30-2007
That is ironic, but not surprising. In fact, I would have guessed it ran XP/2000 or a version of Linux.
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Jon said 12:17AM on 5-01-2007
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.
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David Schloss said 6:48PM on 4-30-2007
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.
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T.Allen said 7:14PM on 4-30-2007
Yay they finally found a use for windows!
Serving the needs of Apple Products and their users.
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Greg G said 7:35PM on 4-30-2007
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).
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Ed said 7:58PM on 4-30-2007
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 :)
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Ahmad said 8:40PM on 4-30-2007
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.
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Macskeeball said 8:40PM on 4-30-2007
@David Schloss: Actually, I've heard that at least some Apple Stores have handheld Point-of-Sale devices, and those devices run Windows CE.
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Apple Blows said 2:47PM on 5-01-2007
They had to use Windows XP because Mac OSX didn't have enough power to even run POS software, or wait... there actually wasn't POS software compatible with MAC, just like 98% of the software on the market today. Apple fan boys just keep in mind if it wasn't for Microsoft saving Apples ass back in 1997 you wouldn't have your precious OSX piece of shit. Why do you think 90% of the world uses Microsoft, because companies actually make software for it. Why would anyone want to waste their time building software for a MAC...
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Why even try said 9:22PM on 4-30-2007
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.
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dispontainious said 9:28PM on 4-30-2007
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
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Leonard Nimrod said 9:37PM on 4-30-2007
@ 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.
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Graham Cox said 7:18AM on 5-01-2007
"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.... "
Ummm. You must come and tell that to the owner of one of the best cafés in town then, since he's obvously wasting his time and precious counter space having an iMac running MacPOS. In fact there are several such cafes in town with iMacs, and in the next town too... And while you're about it, come visit any RTA office in the country (Australia). They all run iMacs.
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Michael Rose said 10:16PM on 4-30-2007
Wow. Had I known what kind of troll bait this picture would be, I'd never have posted it...
:-)
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Gareth said 10:29PM on 4-30-2007
"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.
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Chris H. said 11:59PM on 4-30-2007
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.
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Steve Shickles said 11:24PM on 4-30-2007
NOOOOO... Say it isn't so
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ChooseandWatch Mitja said 12:17AM on 5-01-2007
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.
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