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As I noted on his blog, it is rather unfortunate that there aren't more Linux based point of sale systems out there.

I guess point of sale software is considered 'enterprisey' enough to warrant vendors wanting to run Windows and SQL Server for 'support' reasons.

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Maybe it's to do with the lack of working drivers for most ticket printers in Linux.

Not really sure how accurate that is....most ticket printers, magnetic card readers, weigh scales, barcode scanners, and other POS related devices adhere to the Unified POS standard.

There is a Java implementation of the standard (called, unsurprisingly, JavaPOS) as well as a .NET implementation (called POS for .NET). I've run a Linux based point of sale that used JavaPOS to interface with peripherals without issue.

Lots of vendors are also MS resellers and will turn a profit by selling their client all the Windows and SQL Server licenses they'll need to run the provided solution.

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