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Mr Lube Goes High Tech - Sort of
The other day I stopped by my local Mr Lube to have a quick oil change on my car. Now, the store I stopped at is only a couple years old, and for the record, they did a great job all around. Being the geek that I am, I couldn’t help but notice that the attendant was using a Pocket PC based device to scan my cars VIN. To be exact, they were using an Intermec CN2B. For those of you who might not know, Intermec is a manufacturer of ruggedized mobile computers. Their devices are typically running Windows Mobile or even Windows CE. This particular device is a small unit with a built in bar code scanner, QVGA screen, 64MB RAM, 64MB ROM, a 400MHz xScale processor, and WiFi. All in all, a pretty good device for a small shop like Mr Lube.
I talked a little with the attendant about this device and how they used it in their workplace (I always like to see how others are using technology to improve efficiency). As it turns out, these devices are pretty new and the whole system is a recent addition. Overall he seemed pleased with the process and software, but he did seem to have some issues getting the device to scan the barcode correctly, but nothing special. It wasn’t until later that day when I looked up the full specs on this device and noticed something really interesting. The CN2B runs Windows Mobile 2003. That’s right, it’s running an OS that’s 4 versions old – 5 if you count the MSFP (Messaging and Security Feature Pack) that was released a couple years ago. So Mr Lube is rolling out a new system to all their stores that’s running on a mobile operating system from 5 years ago!
Now, I don’t know the reasons why they selected this device, or the reasons they decided to use such an old operating system for their project. I guess they must have their reason. What I really don’t understand is why a manufacturer is selling a device running such an old version of Windows Mobile? The only advantage I can think of for doing this is a small cost savings on the licensing fees from Microsoft. But when a customer is paying upwards of $2,000 for a ruggedized handheld, I would expect the manufacturer could spring a little extra cash for the latest version of Windows Mobile. Perhaps even 1 version out of date. But 5 years/4 versions?! It won’t be long and they’re going to start having problems managing and developing for those devices because all the tools have evolved beyond that old mobile OS. If you’re planning a deployment, it’s always good to spend a little more now for a current device/OS that will last for a number of years and allow you to maximize your ROI. Starting out with something that’s already old and outdated isn’t really the best approach. At least not in my opinion.
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2 Responses to “Mr Lube Goes High Tech - Sort of”
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I think the answer is two-fold. Intermec cares about speed and reliability.
Regarding speed, WM 2003 devices are faster than WM 5 and later devices because all of the information is kept in RAM, not Flash (which is slower).
You may ask, what if the battery dies and they lose power? The answer is that they probably don’t care. It wouldn’t surprise me if any special applications Mr. Lube requires are built into ROM (the GPS Pocket PC company I worked at did this by including the navigation program in ROM so a hard reset wouldn’t require software installation).
But what about the data? Again, they probably don’t care. If the device isn’t wireless (and therefore constantly updating a server), I assume they sync after each customer, so it’s not likely they’d lose anything.
Regarding reliability, WM 2003 has been well proven. Makers of rugged devices tend to lag behind on OS versions because their customers need reliability. They don’t want a bug in a new OS cropping up where they have to say “We know about this, and Microsoft is working on a patch.”
If you’ve read about the U.S. space program, you may know that their computers were *way* behind state-of-the-art. It’s because of the long planning cycle and need for absolute reliability.
So why not use WM 2003 SE at least? It should have the speed of WM 2003 and be almost as reliable, right?
Again, I think the answer is simple. The two biggest features in WM 2003 SE were VGA support and landscape support. If that’s a QVGA device, the former is unnecessary, and just looking at the device lets you know that landscape mode would be counterproductive.
The other major WM 2003 SE items (single-column Pocket Internet Explorer mode, Transcriber shortcuts and WPA WiFi encryption) probably aren’t that important, either. If WPA encryption is important, I assume Intermec included WiFi drivers that supported it.
Steve
@Pony99CA - Hey Steve, You make some good points, but to be clear about Intermec; they sell a lot of different devices including the ever popular CN3 running much newer versions of the OS.
Also, the issue you mention about loss of power and the loss of data, is not typically a problem with the rugged devices. Intermec, Symbol, Honeywell, etc… all have a part of the file system that is considered “Stable storage” and nothing will be removed from this location in the event of a power failure or even a hard reset.
And while the space program may be slow or behind in some area’s of technology, they mobile devices they are using run a much newer version of Windows Mobile. Trust me, I’ve talked with them about the devices and how to manage them.
I think the biggest reason Mr Lube picked out these devices is the price.