Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 10:33:33 -0700 From: Gene Mosher <gene@viewtouch.com> To: www@FreeBSD.org, rwatson@FreeBSD.org Subject: FreeBSD Applications Message-ID: <3F0DA36D.8020602@viewtouch.com>
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I'd like to make a suggestion for extending the claims made on a couple of the FreeBSD web site, specifically here... http://www.freebsd.org/applications.html in this part of the page "Here are some examples of the environments in which FreeBSD is used:" and here... http://www.freebsd.org/commercial/software_bycat.html I'd like to suggest that you add Point of Sale to the general categories already listed. My company, ViewTouch, does offer point of sale (POS) software & systems which are based upon FreeBSD, of course, and I had a whole lot to do with inventing the graphical POS software genre in the first place, but my point, really, is that POS is a truly huge industry segment worldwide. There are millions upon millions of computers running POS software and tens of millions of people using POS software all day long in their jobs. It's my feeling that this fact should be reflected in the parts of your web site where it is appropriate, on the pages I've indicated. Point of Sale software will soon be extended and transformed into what I'll call Point of Purchase Environment software. That's what I'm inventing these days in this, my 25th year of POS software development. Customers will themselves be operating touchscreens in all kinds of hospitality environments worldwide, in restaurants, lounges and hotels, in a way which is analogous to people checking themselves into their flights with touchscreens at airports now. Because of X, by the way, ANY application with graphics is automatically a touchscreen application, even if the person who wrote the application wasn't thinking of it. That doesn't mean that it's a GOOD touchscreen application, but that's a different issue. All it takes is a touchscreen display, something which virtually all of the LCD manufacturers are offering as an option today, and something which, after 3 decades, finally only adds a small amount to the cost of the display, greatly increasing the value and usefulness of the display by turning it into an input device which can be operated by virtually anyone with no training whatsoever. Perhaps you would even want to create a general category called Interactive touchscreen systems, of which POS is merely one type. At any rate, I have thought about this a lot, I think it is the right thing to do, and I think that since FreeBSD is being used in this exciting new way, and is being used by the company that was there giving birth to this segment 20-25 years ago, I therefore am comfortable and hopeful in making this suggestion. Gene Mosher ViewTouch (already in the FreeBSD Gallery, by the way)
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