McDonald's Germany Moves to SuSE Linux 471
sglafata writes "Novell has made an announcement that McDonald's is moving towards Linux. 'With more than 30,000 restaurants around the globe and more than 1,200 in Germany alone, McDonald's is the undisputed market leader in the fast food sector.'"
soo... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:soo... (Score:5, Funny)
In other news, will SCO be suing them later for either health problems or copyright infringment?
Re:soo... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:soo... (Score:5, Funny)
Case Study: McDonald's
"The everyday business of a McDonald's restaurant requires a stable operating system that can give round-the-clock performance," said John Doty, Director of US Information Technology for McDonald's Corporation's Store Systems. "We are very pleased with the performance of SCO UNIX®. SCO's platform has provided us with a very stable and reliable system. SCO UNIX® has been a dependable platform for thousands of McDonald's restaurants over the past 10 years and we're looking forward to migrating our restaurants to the current version."
McDonald's Serves It Up with SCO UNIX® World's Largest Restaurant Food Chain Planning Migration to Latest SCO UNIX® Platform in Over 4,000 Stores; SCO OS Increases Networking Capabilities and Reduces Costs
Re:soo... (Score:3, Interesting)
Requires stability. Indeed.
I told them to power the machine off and back on, and they said they'd tried that. They were still waiting for someone from McD's IT department to come down and fix the box.
Re:soo... (Score:5, Funny)
As McDonalds said to SCO.. (Score:4, Funny)
Disclaimer: I'm not claiming that as an original quote on my part. Saw it on another forum and ROTFLMAO
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
Re:soo... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:soo... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:soo... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:soo... (Score:5, Funny)
I had a teacher in high school who was really, really allergic to beef. When I say "allergic" I'm talking about a trip to the hospital, all kinds of drugs, and he'd still be vomiting for hours. One day, this teacher had a hamburger at McDonald's.
Nothing happened to him.
Re:soo... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:soo... (Score:3, Funny)
African or European kangaroos?
Re:soo... (Score:4, Interesting)
Insta-Constipation!
Also, it was common practice to go eat a full meal at McD after an night of hard drinking, to avoid being sick.
We conjectured that they probably put anti-diarrhea and antivomiting drugs in their food so that in case of food poisoning, no one would be the wiser.
yes they are (Score:5, Funny)
Serve them to fat clients (Score:5, Funny)
Penguins don't taste good (Score:4, Funny)
Re:soo... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:soo... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:soo... (Score:5, Informative)
So don't try this at home, at least unless you have two degrees and preferably a PhD as well as being mother-tongue bilingual in German and English, and maybe in another language too, have kept German-style Letters Of Reference throughout your professional career and you have friends in reasonably high places or are naturally lucky. In a year or so it should be safe to try again (goes my optimistic viewpoint), but in the meantime there are better places to be, like just about anywhere else, except for on LinuxTag of course.
The German tech scene has been in trouble for a while now, probably ever since CeBIT ceased being anything but an intrabusiness marketing forum. As with everywhere, the year 2000 was a fun time here, but this spring's CeBIT was just depressing. New and cool stuff is mostly coming from elsewhere - German industry has done what the tech industry does at times like this, which is to dump R&D and fall back on selling management 'skills'. Curled up like a stunned hedgehog, in other words, and never mind the obvious prick jokes.
Will they... (Score:4, Funny)
Or should I say, will they use the money saved to buy ACTUAL meat?
Re:Will they... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Will they... (Score:4, Funny)
McDonald's burgers. Not meaty enough for carnivores. Not meatless enough for vegetarians. Why do people eat them? Oh yeah, fast and cheap.
Re:Will they... (Score:3, Interesting)
I agree.
Never again for college.
Oh, wait, I'm attending City College of San Francisco RIGHT NOW!
Mostly to get money to survive.
But I'm not flipping burgers! Instead, I, anarchist that I am, am taking Pell Grants from the suckers paying taxes in this moronic country.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!!
Actually, if you think about how many people eat at McDonald's, the idea of giving every one of them a free Knoppix Live CD would probably wipe out Windows in a couple months.
I'll buy that for a dollar!
Re:Will they... (Score:5, Informative)
Robble Robble (Score:5, Funny)
Would this be a conflict of interest?
Re:Robble Robble (Score:5, Insightful)
-Jem
Re:Robble Robble (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Robble Robble (Score:5, Insightful)
You'd think, but didn't SuSE get a restraining order or something on SCO last year? I'm wondering if McDonalds has been planning on moving to Linux globally for a while and didn't want to wait until SCO is toast before proceeding. A SCO hostile court system in Germany that has already ruled in SuSE's favour would make the country an ideal place to run the Linux trial while providing some protection from SCO. Very clever of McDonalds...
Re:Robble Robble (Score:4, Interesting)
If SCO try it on, they will be in contempt of court, and that is a very serious offence.
Re:Robble Robble (Score:3, Funny)
Take this, SCO ! (Score:5, Funny)
Time to update your success story [thescogroup.com] pages again.
Regards,
Linus
You insensitive clod! (Score:5, Funny)
Tell me, were you smoking something?
Re:You insensitive clod! (Score:4, Funny)
Bad OS for fast food [thescogroup.com]
Well now... (Score:5, Interesting)
That's really exciting--maybe they'll switch to high quality food now, too.
But seriously...
I doubt that they'll replace their in-store systems. There's no real need there--most places are running something really ancient that still works. However, I wouldn't mind seing a penguin or two while I'm ordering... and, with all that money they've got, who knows?
Re:Well now... (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyway sooner or later anything running SCO is doomed.
Re:Well now... (Score:5, Funny)
No wait, my bad. I was totally wrong. You'll get BOTH posts modded up. Can I have a +4 insightful for pointint out my mistake?
Re:Well now... (Score:3, Informative)
I had to replace segments of of coax frequently as people would yank them out of the walls while moving equipment for cleaning (yes, we cleaned. I held the record for fastest spotless kitchen close @ 12 minutes flat). I was the only one with a clue, and the store manager didn't want to call in a service tech if he could get me to do it for free.
The server would dial-
Re:Well now... (Score:5, Funny)
I wonder. . . (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I wonder. . . (Score:4, Funny)
Not much behind this really... (Score:5, Informative)
From the press release:
McDonald's Germany deploys SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server for DNS, FTP, and proxy services on the Internet.
I count three servers there, and "FTP" hardly strikes me as a core service for a fast-food company. This is your typical press-release, intended to produce hype but without a lot behind it. It strikes me as grandstanding by Novell since everyone knows McDonalds uses SCO Unix for many of their POS terminals and someone who reads this headline quickly may think they're ripping out Unix and putting in Linux. Sorry, only three boxes at play here.
And no, I'm not defending SCO, I'm just saying this press release doesn't mean much.
Re:Not much behind this really... (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, the Fries Transfer Protocol is definitely a core service.
Re:Not much behind this really... (Score:5, Insightful)
"McDonald's Germany deploys SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server for DNS, FTP, and proxy services on the Internet."
I count three servers there, and "FTP" hardly strikes me as a core service for a fast-food company.
Services != servers
Re:Not much behind this really... (Score:3, Funny)
You're right. DNS, FTP and proxy can all be done on a single server. Some news.
In your basement and your dreams yes. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Not much behind this really... (Score:5, Insightful)
McDonalds has been using computers for a long, long time and Novell is business-savy enough to not let loose their customer's plans.
"SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server enables us to deliver a functional, flexible, efficient, and yet efficient infrastructure," says Trepl.
Apache as web server and JRun or Tomcat enable the implementation of static HTML contents as well as dynamic Java-based applications without having to resort to overly large solutions. The utilized Oracle9i database is certified for SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server.
According to Trepl, "Our current solution can be expanded at any time. This is possible due to the low price, the flexibility of a Linux solution, and the certification of SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server for solutions such as Oracle9i. Thus, there is no upper limit."
Re:Not much behind this really... (Score:4, Insightful)
Had anyone else noticed this? How did it get past PR?
Re:Not much behind this really... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Not much behind this really... (Score:3, Insightful)
Possibly translation error. Possibly they're excited but don't want to give too much away as to what their plans are.
I'm conflicted.... (Score:3, Funny)
Poor SCO (Score:5, Interesting)
Correction: WAS one of their largest customers!
When it rains it pours, eh?
Re:Poor SCO (Score:5, Interesting)
Might explain why they have kept cutting back on the number of people they keep on staff in thier stores to the point where if the local hut isn't pulling down quite a few bucks you can count on slow service because they just don't have the manpower to keep up.
Just DON'T take it out on the delivery driver by not tipping or worse, tipping very poorly. I guarantee he's doing his level best to deliver as many as possible in as little time as possible. He makes his money on those tips, not the paycheck and thus the more deliveries he makes the more $$ he makes.
Still If you want to hurt sco a bit and get better service just don't order pizza hut, but tell them why. (say "stop using sco and hire enough people to do the job")
Mycroft
Bad for MacDonalds (Score:5, Funny)
sales grow marketshare (Score:5, Interesting)
Another v.bad joke... (Score:5, Funny)
Unix vs Windows (Score:5, Interesting)
A cursory glance of the job opportunities seemed to indicate to him that getting MCSE certification was a wiser move than going into the Unix arena. He asked me, "If unix is so much better, why are there more Microsoft-related jobs?" And is Unix the future or is this just a fad?
I couldn't help but think that in my mind, Microsoft-based corporate IT setups are often more political than practical. Yes, you'll find more jobs with MCSE but it's not because there are necessarily more opportunities. It's because Microsoft-based tech people burn out more quickly, and often the companies they work for make politically-oriented tech decisions over what is practical and economical. It's almost like a litmus test for good corporate management these days. If a big company is using Unix, that's a sign they give their IT department substantive authority to pick the best tools for the job.
It's nice to know more recognized companies are obviously asking the tech people what are the best tools available to accomplish the objective.
So Microsoft or Unix? He continued to ask me.
After some thought my resonse was, "If you want job security and choices, MCSE will give you that, but don't expect to ever get to a point where you have things under control. That's something Unix people encounter a lot more often. But one look at the stats, such as the fact that Microsoft has only 21% of the Internet web server market and shows no sign of de-throning Apache, reveals that Unix is anything but a fad. Why less Unix-based jobs? Probably because Unix admins are a happier lot and turnover in their area is nowhere near the massive burnout rate of MCSEs."
So Micky-Ds in Germany is going Unix? This is less a sign of the corporation legitimizing Unix as it is likely that a number of key executives in that region have recognized that it might be a smart move to ask the IT people what are the best tools for the job.
Re:Unix vs Windows (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Unix vs Windows (Score:3, Insightful)
Erm, the article doesnt say that McD's in Germany is not swtiching to unix. Considering they are a SCO customer, thatey have been using unix for a while now, and may already be using it in backend systems. The article states that they are moving to
Re:Unix vs Windows (Score:3, Interesting)
Based on what? You're just making this up, right? And you get +5 for this....
Reminds me of (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Reminds me of (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Reminds me of (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Reminds me of (Score:5, Insightful)
Linux : "happy meal: Aieee, transceiver MIF write bolixed"
Now come on, admit it. You'd use windows more if it gave out error messages like that. Even a simple "Ooops. We fucked up that last write operation rather badly. Sorry". Phrases like that just seem to convey a bit more feeling and sincerity than the dry corporate psuedo-regret that windows serves out.
Re:Reminds me of (Score:5, Interesting)
Linux : "happy meal: Aieee, transceiver MIF write bolixed"
Now come on, admit it. You'd use windows more if it gave out error messages like that. Even a simple "Ooops. We fucked up that last write operation rather badly. Sorry". Phrases like that just seem to convey a bit more feeling and sincerity than the dry corporate psuedo-regret that windows serves out.
Even better is that those "unprofessional" linux errormessages are pretty creative, and therefore pretty much unique to whatever problem you might be experiencing..
"The application has encountered a problem" is as unspecific as you can get. What problem? Perhaps suppressed sexual anxiety relating to a childhood obsession with its mother, no?
At least the linux error messages are googlable..
Re:Reminds me of (Score:4, Funny)
So torn... (Score:3, Funny)
Argh...
kfc (Score:3, Interesting)
The touch-screen registers we use there all run dos (with some kind of extensions of some sort)
The system is very unreliable, although I'm not sure whether it's the programmers fault or the managers of the store (1D10T errors).
We often lost orders between drivethrough windows, or the screen telling us what to pack would stop displaying any new orders, and we would have to get the person at the first window to yell the orders at us. Technology is wonderful.
A much more interesting McDonald's related article (Score:5, Informative)
Two Completely Unrelated Headlines (Score:5, Funny)
and
Is the Linux Desktop Getting Heavier and Slower? [slashdot.org]
I know /. is e geek place (Score:3, Funny)
It's like saying "the MS-DOS operating system". Clueless people like it that way and all others.... Oh forget it
Re:I know /. is e geek place (Score:4, Insightful)
Pray tell, how does McD not fit that definition? Is the food crappy? yes it is. But it's still a restaurant.
Imagine a beowulf cluster of.... (Score:5, Funny)
In the other news... (Score:5, Funny)
McDonalds - good today? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why do people keep buying their food anyway? I have to assume that people forget how bad it us until a nice shiny advert comes along and convinces them how good it is. Those nice soggy floppy burgers. Hmm.
Re:McDonalds - good today? (Score:4, Insightful)
As far as their OS of choice is concerned: yes, they are OK. The food is still bad and they are a nasty big corporation. But what does that have to do with the subject at hand? We are not talking about the ethics or the quality of the food. we are talking about their choice of OS.
Re:McDonalds - good today? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:McDonalds - good today? (Score:3, Insightful)
Habit and convenience.
People go there because they've been going since they were children. There's a reason that the bulk of McD's advertising is directed at kids. Beyond that, McD's is everywhere--in the town of 20,000 where I live, we have four of them. If you don't want to cook, there's ALWAYS one on the way home.
Personally, I avoid them and have been doing so for a couple of years. If I want to eat unhealthy (heh, and I DO eat unhealthy anyway) I'd muc
It's so confusing... (Score:3, Insightful)
MacDonald's is meant to be evil...
Now that McDonald's is going open source (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Now that McDonald's is going open source (Score:3, Interesting)
With a buddy of mine I once tried imitating McDonald's sauce and we actually got pretty near to the McDonald taste.
I noticed that the taste of the fresh herbs (basil was an important ingredient) we used wore after a while. That means, McDonald's way of stabilizing the taste is very likely well studied and they deserve credit for that.
We went on and we "discovered" that almost any mayonnaise based sauce with fresh herbs can be brought to a decent taste. If you
No big deal (Score:5, Insightful)
Norwegian Postal Service too (Score:4, Informative)
Educational services. (Score:5, Funny)
This is why I like slashdot. It's so educational.
I always thought (Score:3, Funny)
Micros (not Microsoft) (Score:4, Interesting)
I interviewed there once - they seemed to have SCO Unix and NT based systems.... atleast in the dept that I interviewed in.
Now the lawsuits (Score:3, Funny)
Soon no-one will be able to deny... (Score:3, Funny)
Their supplier? (Score:4, Funny)
Does this mean... (Score:4, Funny)
I seem to recall Michael Douglas going ballistic over this in a movie once...
Realistically, folks.. (Score:5, Insightful)
If this works, with the Novell deal now giving them a US support base, they have a potential migration path out of a failing vendor. Whether they wait for SCO to crater or just move ahead and dare SCO to bring suit on their largest customer remains to be seen.
SOT: Re:Supersize me (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Supersize me (Score:5, Insightful)
While stories like this are still interesting, I am not sure that it is really a coop anymore. In '96 I would have been forwarding this story to everyone I knew, but Linux is all grown up now. Hell, Linux runs some of the biggest computers in the world these days. Slobbering over stories like this is a lot like getting all excited when your 11 year old kid is able to dress himself when he has already been doing it for 9 years...
While it is good news for Novell and Suse, it should be expected that an extremely adept and profit driven company like McDonalds would see that Linux IS the full meal deal.
Re:Supersize me (Score:5, Informative)
A "coop" is a house for animals like a chicken coop.
A "coup", as in the French phrase "coup d'etat" is a striking victory. It was also used as a reference to the Native American tradition of touching one's enemy in battle to demonstrate your dominant skill and control over the battle.
A "coupe" is a type of car body.
To "coo" is to speak in a murmuring tone much like that of a pigeon.
So, this time I'm going to let you all go. But if it happens again. . . well, I'll kick your fucking asses.
Re:Supersize me (Score:5, Informative)
coop A cage or pen for confining poultry
coup A notable or strikingly successful move.
Do you really think Tux belongs in a coop?
Re:A Dubious Achievement (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd disagree. McDonalds was into computers and automation long before most Slashdotters were born. It's not just Burger King that imitates McDonalds.
Re:Microsoft will be Furious.,...Maybe (Score:3, Funny)
Unamericanism? Auf Deutschland? Surely not
Re:Goodbye SCO (Score:4, Funny)
In the interest of providing optimal posts, I will now edit your message.
Poor SCO, McDonalds was their customer.
Thank you for your patience.
Another little correction :-) (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Covert protectionism: SuSE is German too (Score:4, Informative)