From: peter@NeoSoft.com (Peter da Silva)
Subject: Re: Macs as POS terminals (was IBM SUCKS!)
Organization: NeoSoft Communications Services -- (713) 684-5900
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 11:44:25 GMT

Discussing applications for which Macs are unsuitable:
> > Non-critical embedded applications: point of sale units, for example (cash
> > registers, coupon machines, automatic tellers, etc), or bulletin board
> > systems. In both cases the user interface is irrelevant (you can't use a
> > mouse at a terminal, and a bitmapped display over a modem is problematic)
> > and price is the overriding concern.

> Funny you should mention this.  Over the past month or so, I've been out
> shopping (the urge hits me every year or so), and I've been noticing just
> how ineffective many point-of-sale (POS) interfaces are.

Yes. The best interfaces are the ones at MacDonalds or Burger King. They
aren't video, of course. The user interface is excellent: everything has
a labelled button... labelled with a picture. you couldn't do better. 
Hell with computer literacy, you don't even need plain literacy.

I don't know what the problem was in your small/large drink example, but
I suspect it was simple incompetance. I've had to help people with the
most dumbed down user interfaces imaginable... and that includes the Mac...
who simply can't get it.

There are some good "video" computer POS systems at video stores, which is
kind of interesting. I guess (like the fast food places) they can't depend
on training: employee turnover is too high.

Oddly, computer stores tend to have the worst. Often because they've gone
and implemented them themselves based on some random database program.

> The user interface is obviously irrelevant, but not in the way you are
> suggesting.

Obviously. What I meant was that the user-interface was going to be managed by
a dedicated program. No operating system functions.

Actually, one gui that would work pretty well in this area, because it doesn't
need a mouse (yes, you can *use* the Mac GUI without a mouse... I wouldn't
recommend it) is Microsoft Windows.

> Donald Norman's book "The Design of Everyday Things" provides many
> excellent examples of "award-winning design" which frustrates the
> users.

I'm familiar with the book.

Some time I'd like to talk about how that applies to the Mac.

> You may be right.  It doesn't matter, though.  A well-designed
> Macintosh application can function quite well without a mouse
> if necessary.

I have never seen one. I've seen some that are better than others, but none
that I'd stick a novice in front of.

> I'll stick my neck out and say that I believe that a great
> designer can do a POS station with JUST a mouse (mouse, trackball,
> or touch screen), a bar code reader, a mag card reader, and NO keyboard.

Not rugged enough for POS use. Seriously.

> > bitmapped display over a modem is problematic

> ...and shows some confusion over the Macintosh programming model.

Not at all. I'm talking about the host side. I'm sure there are some killer
terminal applications for the Mac. Like I said, it's designed for a workstation
role.

> There's no need to ship bitmaps over a modem.  Much of the 
> communication model could work as most systems currently work.  

And you don't need a Mac on the host side to do the job. That's the place
the Mac isn't appropriate, but a PC works just fine.

Not running DOS, of course. That's the true evil.

> I do know that most of them hated the POS terminals they had to
> use because the interface was so poorly designed.

And this was at Sears. You know, one of the companies responsible for Fraudigy.
Using them is a bit of a straw man, no?
-- 
Peter da Silva.  <peter@sugar.neosoft.com>.
 `-_-'   "Segodnja volka obnimal?"
  'U`