[SGVLUG] Meeting Idea - linux at CC - Re: Circuit City in trouble

[Ted Arden]

On Tue, 4 Nov 2008, matti wrote:

>
> Sweet Meeting idea!!!
>
> When would you like to present ;)

HAHHAHHA... real world linux implimentations.
you'd be surprised how much open source stuff
i've leaked into corp america and how much
stuff is being leveraged throughout the world.
about 2 months ago i got redhat 7.2 working
on a state of the art box with a fresh kernel.org
kernel for the 2nd largest retailer in the
world in Madrid.  Company called Carrefour.

without going into gory details, people pretty
much use the basic tools.  PXE booting into
a small initrd with various flags and drivers
for mostly serial (yeah, DB9 and TTYSx will
never die) and some USB stuff to run the touch
screens on self checkout systems, receipt printers,
and bar code scanners.  then fall into native
or java based applications that run the UI
and back office transactions stuff.

like i said, a lot of little computers all doing
the same thing.. kinda like HPC but instead of
protien folding or nuclear simulation they are
processing credit cards or doing inventory lookup.

unfortunately, until i can get out of RIC and
helping out CC, don't count on a preso anytime
soon.  would like to next time i'm back in the
land of the sun and non-humidity.

and out of your 3 points below, i agree with
all of them, except firedog services, as it keeps
me from getting fone calls from family to help them
setup their [insert tech here] stuff.  for the
same reason i stoppped building machines for people.

=ted=


>
> --- On Tue, 11/4/08, Ted Arden <ted at tux.org> wrote:
>
> > From: Ted Arden <ted at tux.org>
> > Subject: Re: [SGVLUG] Circuit City in trouble
> > To: "SGVLUG Discussion List." <sgvlug at sgvlug.net>
> > Date: Tuesday, November 4, 2008, 10:37 AM
> > yeah.. i work at CC and they are doing
> > okay.. not great, but all retailers are
> > suffering.  i built their linux store
> > infrastructure which has been implimented
> > across 40% of their chain. (probably would be
> > a good topic for a monthly meeting).
>
>
> > Best Buy...
>
> personally I'd much rather shop at Circuit City
>
> > saying 'don't buy this and do buy that from CC'
> > is not like sharperimage who sold crap.  this is
> > still the #2 electronics store in the country.
>
> fyi - for the record
>
> 1) Personally I don't think people should buy
> giftcards. they're typically a value loser for
> consumers. ( regardless of the store.. )
>
> 2) I don't know much about the quality of
> firedog services, I think it should be OK
> to purchase services which will be rendered
> in the present time. ( i.e. I disagree with
> original post item #2 which I cut n pasted )
>
> 3) Extended warranties - for 90% of the time
> imho I think the consumer gets the short end
> on these. Thus I recommend people not to purchase
> them - one exception is laptop warranties which
> over the screen and theft.
>
> > > I posted this so people are aware
> > > 1: Don't buy any CC giftcards (if CC goes bankrupt
> > you would be considered an unsecured creditor)
> > > 2: Don't buy any Firedog services
> > > 3: Don't buy any extended warranties if
> > they're CC's
> > > 4: If you buy anything and need to return remember
> > check local CC's if one closes others will take returns
> > (as per internal letter)
>
> best
> matti
>
>
>
>
>