back to article We're afraid it might be terminal: Tesco top-up box looking less than tip-top

Like that ageing celebrity you thought kicked the bucket years ago, Windows XP keeps popping up on screens to wheeze the IT equivalent of "I'm not dead yet!" Today's entry in the parade of bork is a return of Register favourite Tesco, notable for scan-'n'-shop shenanigans and the odd bit of XP action on the self-service tills …

  1. Andy The Hat Silver badge

    Xp

    I was quite impressed when we were given a presentation earlier in the week using a laptop running "Xp media edition". I knew it existed, about the time George lV died I believe, but have never seen a copy!

    1. Warm Braw

      Re: Xp

      Presumably if you adopt the same ordinal representation as "George lV", Windows XP is actually Windows F?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Can Be Your Toilet Paper Scratching You Ow!

    It's been there since 2015.

    1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

      Re: Can Be Your Toilet Paper Scratching You Ow!

      So, do we now know where amanfrommars works?

    2. Kubla Cant

      Re: Can Be Your Toilet Paper Scratching You Ow!

      A stepbystep manual through the process that is credentialing for ActuariesCurrent at the time of the 2013's Society The current exam design for that Culture of (SOA) is really a little alphabet soup. Becoming a qualified Man of Actuaries (FSA) your culture have to function with a procedure that is credentialing.

      Totally creepy! It seems to mean something, but, but....

      And I so wanted to become a qualified Man of Actuaries.

    3. Giles C Silver badge

      Re: Can Be Your Toilet Paper Scratching You Ow!

      That Is one of the worst websites I have seen for a while,

      The links go all over the place, there is a bad case of stretched images on the staff page and an inconsistent layout.

      And as to the links, well the blog says coming soon on most pages, but on the press page it links to that page.

      If you are designing pos terminals then you would think they want people to use their website to look at what is on offer....

      1. The First Dave

        Re: Can Be Your Toilet Paper Scratching You Ow!

        Me thinks that the web dev mis-undertood, and is going with the 'more universal' definition of P.O.S., and designed the site to suit?

  3. Uk_Gadget

    I have one XP system left

    I am on my last system running Windows XP, used to program firmware on 15 year old bespoke hardware...

    Still got NT3.51 running in the basement controlling cranes...

    Neither is networked though....

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Eye popping performance not surprising

    With the proliferation of ever more complex development frameworks that do little more than plain old APIs yet follow some ivory tower "correct" OO pratices [insert here an endless list of TLA and buzzword bingo bullshit invented by people who couldn't hack their way out of a wet paper bag] coupled with managed code and VMs its hardly surprising that a 3Gz quad core machine is required to run for example a word processor at the same speed that a 486 managed in the 90s yet with not an appreciably useful extra amount of functionality.

    1. katrinab Silver badge
      Megaphone

      Re: Eye popping performance not surprising

      Try actually wordprocessing for example a 15 page document with a few graphics in it, maybe some circuit diagrams or something like that, on your 1990s 486, and let me know how you get on.

      Your modern computer will be way faster, and you won't have to press ^S after every other keystroke to avoid loss of work due to crashes.

      In terms of functionality, sure, WordPerfect 6 was as functional as anything you can get today, but on period hardware, a lot slower.

      1. heyrick Silver badge

        Re: Eye popping performance not surprising

        "Try actually wordprocessing for example a 15 page document with a few graphics in it"

        Downvote because I could do that on an 8MHz ARM2 back in the early '90s (and didn't have to save it every ten seconds).

        What sort of shitty software were you exposed to?

        1. katrinab Silver badge
          Flame

          Re: Eye popping performance not surprising

          WordPerfect 6.0 on Windows 3.1

        2. katrinab Silver badge
          Megaphone

          Re: Eye popping performance not surprising

          Also, "an 8MHz ARM2" is not a 486. The GP post claims that an Epyc Rome 7742 is no faster than a 486 due to software bloat. It doesn't make any comparison with ARM2 chips.

          1. Daniel M

            Re: Eye popping performance not surprising

            But was it WordPerfect 6.0a ?

            WordPerfect 6.0 did not get along with Windows at all. Thus 6.0a, which as I recall was a free upgrade.

            1. katrinab Silver badge

              Re: Eye popping performance not surprising

              This one - https://winworldpc.com/product/wordperfect/60-win

              whichever version that is.

              I haven't tested the download, and it likely won't work in 64 bit Windows, but the screenshot matches what I remember.

      2. jake Silver badge

        Re: Eye popping performance not surprising

        "Try actually wordprocessing for example a 15 page document with a few graphics in it, maybe some circuit diagrams or something like that, on your 1990s 486, and let me know how you get on."

        I'm pretty sure that I was doing all that with WinWord 2.0 on Win 3.0 in 1991 with no problems at all.

        "and you won't have to press ^S after every other keystroke"

        I didn't have to press ^S. Its a computer, I told it to do it for me.

  5. Winkypop Silver badge
    Mushroom

    More services are being added "all the time"

    "although we'd wager that doesn't include Windows Update on this box at least."

    BooM!

  6. imanidiot Silver badge

    Can Be Your Toilet Paper Scratching You Ow!

    What's wrong with a good bit of Lorem Ipsum? At least most people would know that that's (not quite) gobbeldy gook.

    1. jake Silver badge

      Re: Can Be Your Toilet Paper Scratching You Ow!

      Upvoted, with the caveat that most people (whoever that is) don't know that Lorem ipsum exists.

      1. imanidiot Silver badge

        Re: Can Be Your Toilet Paper Scratching You Ow!

        The whole point of Lorem Ipsum is that people see it as looking right as "a language" but not anything readable. The whole point of placeholder text in graphical layout work is to show where text will be without distracting the viewer with trying to read the text. Somebody that does website design should know Lorem Ipsum and use it.

  7. heyrick Silver badge

    Photo booths

    It's worth keeping an eye on those photo printer gizmos. The older ones are often running XP or Vista, and if you are able to notice the BIOS messages, often some rather mediocre hardware too (explains the lack of responsiveness).

  8. SouthernLogic

    Serious UPTIME

    That XP box has been running flawlessly for decades. the ix's have nothing on the older MS tech, the newer bunch of wares want to reboot every 6 months, sometimes even more often.

  9. MOH

    I'm quite interested in "Schools that are best to Get Ready to get a Job in Astronomy". Apparently they can often be found in bags of 5.

    Then there's the hilarious "Omnivend Launches Next Generation Kiosk" from 2013, with a picture that looks very like the one in the article. Next Generation indeed!

  10. TheSkunkyMonk

    I miss my Xp now but now I have integrated marketing crap slowing me down built right in, Yay progress!

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Windows XP in 2020! It still lives.

    I'm a Tesco colleague who studied Computer Science at university and I can tell you that all the computers/servers in our store are running Windows XP or Windows server 2003, and when I say Windows XP, I'm not talking about the POSReady version, I'm talking about Windows XP Professional SP2, which hasn't been supported for many years. These computers are connected to the Tesco network and do share data over the internet, and although they have some restrictions set on them via the group and security policy editor, this is made void by the fact that any user on the computer (with understanding of how to access the Windows admin tools) can change or turn off any setting in the group policy editor due to incorrect configuration of user permissions. I have brought this up with Tesco management before but they seem more interested in saving money than attempting to upgrade or lockdown the system.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Windows XP in 2020! It still lives.

      And, rather depressingly, this is the same management attitude across a large number of companies, many of whom should know better.

  12. jake Silver badge

    Indeed.

    "Like many ancient bits of Microsoft OS technology, putting it on modern (disconnected) gear demonstrates some eye-popping performance compared to code nowadays."

    Try putting ACAD2K on NT2K on modern hardware. With the exception of video driver issues (the old generic "hi-res" ones work perfectly adequately), it's surprising how fast it is. Overall, seat of the pants suggests at least three times as fast as the modern code on the same hardware. And quite frankly, there is absolutely nothing in the modern equivalents that I would find important enough to switch to.

    1. whitepines
      Happy

      Re: Indeed.

      If you like that, try FreeCAD. Seems to do everything I ever remember needing from the ACAD2K days without the licensing problems*, and quite snappy too.

      * "Licensed, not sold". Why anyone sane would agree to lock their valuable mechanical IP into a proprietary software package under those terms is quite beyond me.

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