Cha-ching. That’s the noise open source companies hope to hear as they launch new point-of-sale solutions for VARs and retail customers. But can open source POS systems compete with traditional, popular options from Dell, Microsoft, IBM, NCR and others?

The VAR Guy can’t say for sure, but he’s seeing progress on the open source front. Here’s the update.

Openbravo has launched Openbravo POS 2.0. The new platform has an improved user interface, more reporting features, global localization features, and some other bells and whistles. Openbravo acquired the base POS technology when it snapped up Librepos in 2007. (In its early days, the software was known as TinaPOS.)

Meanwhile, Novell continues to push forward with various point-of-sale software partnerships. One of which, with 360 Commerce (now owned by Oracle), promotes POS technology on SuSE Linux. Novell also has a specialized operating system, called SuSE Linux Point of Service, that’s back by IBM, NCR and SAP.

While Linux continues to gain momentum on in the POS world, it seems as if open source applications are just getting started in the POS sector. Some options, such as Openbravo POS and PHP Point of Sale, appear to be gaining momentum. But others, such as BananaPOS, never seemed to gain critical mass.

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12 Comments on “Open Source Point-of-Sale Systems: Worth A Look?”

  1. Open Source Point of Sale Software: Worth a Look | Open Source Pixels Says:
    March 5th, 2008 at 6:00 am

    [...] can open source POS systems compete with traditional, popular options from Microsoft and others? Here are some thoughts from The VAR Guy. March 5, 2008 · Linux, News, Open Source [...]

  2. fsdaily.com Says:
    March 6th, 2008 at 6:50 am

    Story added…

    This story has been submitted to fsdaily.com! If you think this story should be read by the free software community, come vote it up and discuss it here:

    http://www.fsdaily.com/Business/Open_Source_Point_of_Sale_Systems_Worth_A_Look...

  3. ex360 Says:
    March 6th, 2008 at 9:47 am

    The article implies that 360Commerce was open source. It wasn’t. Source code was sold to customers for customization excluding the low level Foundation code.

  4. The VAR Guy Says:
    March 6th, 2008 at 1:08 pm

    ex360: Thanks for the correction.

  5. jlwallen Says:
    March 6th, 2008 at 4:19 pm

    i installed and use nolapro at the salon where i work. it’s pretty sweet. it’s not open source but it is free and does run on linux.

  6. d mackley Says:
    September 30th, 2008 at 4:25 pm

    This is an interesting post. I run a software company that has developed a POS system based on open source components, for example it uses a Firebird open source database (which is superb by the way) and the central servers are Linux. We are planning to make some elements of our development open source for example we have developed a migration program to migrate websites, however I have not yet come up with a business model that works which would allow us to make the main software open source, it has taken over 6 years of development so far and we are just now getting some decent returns on this significant investment. Any ideas or thooughts would be interesting.

  7. Albert Wong Says:
    October 20th, 2008 at 4:37 pm

    I would also add that Triversity (now SAP Retail POS), is also on SuSE Linux Point of Service.

  8. The VAR Guy Says:
    October 20th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

    Albert: Good point. Plenty of closed source solutions for POS now run on Linux, too.

  9. Scott Says:
    October 29th, 2008 at 8:51 pm

    Just wanted to throw in another option. The site doesn’t look like much but I have demo’d the software and love it. Although it isn’t open source it is a great hosted alternative, or should i say will be since it isn’t released yet. Very simple and intuitive and uses modern ajax techniques but is also compatible with javascript turned off for higher accessibility. Keep your eyes on the website for updates.

    http://www.firesalepos.com

  10. Scott Says:
    October 29th, 2008 at 8:54 pm

    Sorry, miss typed the url. http://www.firesalepos.com

  11. Simao Says:
    May 14th, 2009 at 9:07 am

    Hi,

    please take a look at Omni ERP from Hive Solutions (www.hive.pt) the company I work for.

    Our product is 100% open source, it is really innovative and we hope we can bring a new approach to enterprise applications, providing them with better experience, not only during interaction, but also when delivering all the associated services.

    http:\\blog.hive.pt

  12. Ali Says:
    June 22nd, 2009 at 12:26 pm

    Hi Simao,

    I tried your web site, and have look at your blog. I am wondering how can I get my hand on you project and have it to try? (Where I can download it?)

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