Alternate OS for older Micros system?

[willough]

We have several systems with Micros 2800 terminals in our retail environment and backoffice computers running 3700d software on Windows NT 4 workstations. The NT 4 OS is nearly obsolete. The system itself could go on for a while if the OS could be changed but I am under the impression it cannot be. Any thoughts on upgrading to a more modern OS?

Thanks.

 

[Shift4SMS]

Upgrading the OS would be like putting lipstick on a pig -- it can be done but it won't be pretty. Knowing Micros, I doubt it could be done anyway -- they have a tendency to implement hardware solutions that are very OS version specific. I think you're going to need to upgrade the hardware.

If PCI compliance is your concern, there are compensating controls that can take the POS terminal application out-of-scope and as well as the terminal OS.

Steve Sommers

http://www.shift4.com

-- Creators of $$$ ON THE NET(tm) payment processing services

Blog:

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[TobeThor]

If you have 2800 terminals running w/o problems why consider an OS upgrade? NT 4 is pretty stable and supportable. If forced to upgrade however the most likely successor would be Win 2K over XP and Vista. Win 2k is also a pretty stable OS. I believe the 3700 platform is supported with Win 2K.

 

[pmegan]

The 2800 was designed as the first step of 2700 to 3700 migrations, so restaurants that couldn't afford a full upgrade in one shot could hold onto their terminals and still get the 3700 backoffice features. It was never meant to be a long term solution, so after the first few service packs that stabilized it development was basically non-existant and it was never updated to support running on w2k.

From what I remember, 3700 v3.1 was the first to be officially supported on w2k. v3.0 could be loaded with a registry hack but Micros support wouldn't touch them, and nothing below 4.0 will run on XP/2003.

NT is well past end-of-life and is tough to get support on, but it's a workhorse. If you're not having problems stick with it until you're ready to change the whole system and use a 3rd party compliancy solution if you run credit cards through the system. Even if you can hack your way into running it on w2k you may have a tough time getting support, and the current products all require XP or 2003 so you'll have to upgrade the OS again when you go with a new system.

One concern about staying on NT, or even w2k for that matter, is virus protection. If your Micros servers have internet access you should probably make sure you have a good solid firewall. There are a bunch of viruses floating around designed to take advantage of security gaps and invite others to join the party. We found out about this the hard way, and believe me, these things are like Paris Hilton and Linsey Lohan; no matter what you do they just won't go away.

 

[willough]

Thanks to all for the feedback. I guess we will stick with the OS until a major upgrade of the whole system, which we are beginning to review. We are looking at the latest Micros hardware and software packages as well as a couple of others. We are in the specialty coffee business so looking at Coffee Shop Manager which has 1000+ installations. Also, open to other long term, stable, minimal hassle solutions which have ongoing upgrade paths.

 

[Shift4SMS]

Google "secure micros driver" and you may find you have other much less expensive options available to you that are secure and PCI compliant.