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June 24, 2003

Open Magazine - Your strategic guide to Open Source 
http://www.open-mag.com/cgi-bin/opencgi/email/redirect.cgi?Open624


This week Open  lets two senior Open Source architects bare all to 
Open. 

First, old-time retailing was easy: Sell crackers, eggs, and cheese 
until all sold out and then re-stock your shelves with more, remove your 
apron, and go home (sigh). In today’s credit-card-driven world of 
shop-till-you-drop mega-stores, keeping up even for even the smallest retail 
merchants means computers and Point of Sale software. 

But if the retailer’s life isn’t easy, being a lone entrepreneur with 
an Open Source-rooted POS solution isn’t exactly a pedal-boat cruise. 
This week, Open hears from Quentin Olson, the creator of Mercator POS, 
who takes us down a long and winding road from idea to fruition. 

Next, Open lets a senior executive and Open Source architect confess to 
why fallacious TCO reports about “costly Linux” theories with their 
tortured logic about the nature of “free” drive him crazy and don’t add up 
to his experience in working with servers, operating systems, 
applications, and support. Oh yes, the confession: He’s still using a Windows 
desktop.

For this week’s stories:
click on 
http://www.open-mag.com/cgi-bin/opencgi/email/redirect.cgi?Open624 
And remember to send a copy to your friends mired in proprietary 
systems.

Regards,

The editors of Open magazine