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Microsoft’s flagship product, the Windows family of operating systems, boasts enormous market penetration — most new computers shipped today, save those manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, come with one flavor of Windows or another installed. The dominance of Windows is so profound, in fact, that most casual computer users don’t realize that there are alternatives.

It is not surprising, then, to learn that most kiosks and self-service applications are also powered by Windows. But a few companies have turned their focus in another direction, benefiting from the raw power that can come from a properly modified open-source environment.

The potential for deep customization

First, a quick definition for those new to the concept: “Open source” refers to software that is not owned by an entity, and whose source code — the actual zeros and ones that make it tick — is freely distributed. By contrast, most software on store shelves is not open source — the company that developed it owns the code as intellectual property.

The operative word in “open source” is the first one — that openness not only allows users to implement the software free of charge, it also allows them to make whatever changes they need.

“It is important,” said Dr. Sylvia Berens, vice president of Apunix Computer Systems. The San Diego, Calif.-based company has won numerous awards for its kiosk designs, all built on open-source technologies like Linux and UNIX. “We can change, add and fix parts of the OS as needed. The problem with Windows is that if there is a bug, you can’t do much about it. The best you can hope for is a work-around to the problem.”

According to Bill Gerba, chief executive officer for Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based kiosk software developer WireSpring Technologies, an open OS offers powerful benefits.

“If and when bugs arise, we know with nearly 100 percent certainty that we can find and repair the problem, since we have access to the complete source code of the OS,” he said.

Users wanting to implement an open-source platform must first settle on a distribution to use, at least as a starting point. With Linux, for instance, there are dozens of different distributions available, some offered as free downloads, others boxed and sitting on store shelves. Popular sellers in this category include Mandrake and Red Hat.

Berens said that although a readily available distribution might be used at the outset of a project, it is quickly stripped down to meet the application’s specific needs.

“What most people miss is that a kiosk is not a desktop computer,” she said. “It is a single-purpose device that has one function. So it does not matter how many desktop applications there are available. All that matters is that it reliably and robustly performs the one function of being a customer self-service appliance. Linux has everything you need, and it lets you get rid of everything you don’t.”

Once the application’s needs are met, all other aspects and features of the operating system are removed, making it leaner, faster and more efficient. This, too, is impossible with Windows. “Once we are done stripping it down, it really does not matter what distribution we started from,” she added.

Gerba said his company took the opposite approach. Starting with the kernel (the central guts of the operating system) and core features of Linux, WireSpring added on the features needed to run a kiosk, creating a unique distribution aimed specifically at self-service applications. The result is the company’s FireCast offering.

“We evaluated other options, but determined that our customers would be best served with a distribution that was exclusively made with kiosks and digital signage in mind,” he said.

Berens points out another strength Linux offers over Windows: It doesn’t cost anything. While the price of a copy of Windows might represent a drop in the bucket on a small deployment, it adds up when many machines are the order of the day. “But we would still choose Linux even if it cost more than Windows, because of the strengths it provides,” she added.

Security and extensibility

Microsoft consistently takes a beating in the press over its security concerns; every time a fresh set of updates and patches to Windows is issued, tech pundits weigh in on how woefully bloated and tenuously held together the operating system is. But are things really that bad?

“Yes and no,” offered Gerba. “You can get into religious discussions about this sort of thing, but generally, Linux has proven to be a more secure system. Anecdotally, we talk to a lot of customers who come to us after their presumably secured Windows systems became infected with spyware or viruses, and ceased to function as intended.”

“Security is vital to a self-service appliance,” Berens said. “Linux makes it easy to provide secure firewalls and encrypted VPN connections. This means you have a system that is secure, virus-free, and has protected data transmission.”

Berens said extensibility is also a key factor. If Linux lacks a feature or competency that is required, you can simply design that feature yourself and add it to the kernel.

Unique abilities, unique challenges

Working in an open-source world is not without its hardships. There is no toll-free number to call when things don’t work, as is the case with packaged software. And documentation is often not as comprehensive as you might find in the commercial software realm.

“If as a developer you are not familiar with Linux, it can be a challenge to assemble the pieces properly and find the right tools for your platform,” Berens said. “While Linux has many great features to create the optimum platform, you need to have experience with it, and understand how to take advantage of its strengths.”

Probably the biggest challenge new Linux adopters face is hardware and software support. “Linux drivers often lag their Windows counterparts by several months,” Gerba said. He added that on large rollouts, people typically try to stay away from “bleeding edge” hardware anyway, reducing the impact of this problem. But on smaller deployments, companies often want to use new components, which can be tougher to integrate with the OS.

“That said, with the remote access and updating made possible in part by the modular (nature of the) Linux kernel, we’re able to address virtually any issue without physical access to units in the field,” he added.