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In my opinion it is extremely stupid to use Windows Desktop for kiosks. There are always ways to crash or minimize the kioks app. Then you are on the loose. Wi
by thriftwy 2y ago
In my opinion it is extremely stupid to use Windows Desktop for kiosks. There are always ways to crash or minimize the kioks app. Then you are on the loose.
With Linux and X, it is possible to run X server with a specific app inside. You crash the app, it restarts together with X server.
Of course, in Windows you can specify a different app other than Explorer.exe as "shell" and get a single app session! It just doesn't get used because:
Unfortunately, these systems seem to always been developed by especially clueless people who only ever have seen hammers in their lives and therefore everything looks like nails.
Having said that, the quality of embedded programming always looks subpar. It's like these people see themselves as hardware makers and therefore think they can avoid learning software making 101.
- chx 2y agoYou contradict yourself: first you blame Windows then you blame clueless people. Here's the truth: for any organization the most secure operating system is the one your people have experience in. That's it. Good Windows sysadmins can run a secure Windows shop and bad Linux sysadmins can run an insecure Linux shop. It's the people.
- mschuster91 2y agoThing is, it's easy to mess up a Windows kiosk - and hard to mess up a Linux kiosk. Desktop Windows isn't made for kiosk applications at all, unlike the long gone (and barely related) Windows CE. It's all various sorts of bolted-on crapware.
- withinboredom 2y agoWindows has a kiosk mode these days... I don't know much about it, but I suspect os-level support is way better than just running a full-screen app.
- vel0city 2y agoI've encountered several Linux kiosks where hitting Ctrl+F3 (or 4, 5, 6, 7...etc) just immediately dropped me into a root shell on the device. It seems like most of the time if I can press Ctrl+function key, it'll almost always drop out of the kiosk app at at least give me a login prompt. Sometimes it'll bother asking for a password, sometimes not. I've also encountered Linux kiosks where the app crashed and it is just sitting at a busybox terminal with root access as well. If you even slightly know how Windows IoT or Embedded works, setting up a Windows kiosk is pretty dang simple. There's simple wizards baked into Embedded/IoT that walk you through it. > Desktop Windows isn't made for kiosk applications at all Fully agreed here. They messed up shipping this with what appears to be full-fat Windows 7. Dumb move on their part.
- HeWhoLurksLate 2y agoIt is amusing to me in a comment about a particular group only seeing hammers and nails that the presented solution focuses specifically on a singular technology / implementation.
- kayodelycaon 2y agoiPads are equally great. Lock one in single-app-mode and you’re golden.