Open Source Point-of-Sale Systems: Worth A Look?

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.