SCO rings up cash register deal

The SCO Group has signed a deal under which Wincor Nixdorf's Beetle line of point-of-sale terminals--computerized cash registers--will be able to use SCO's SmallFoot version of Linux, the companies said Monday. More than 600,000 Beetle terminals, which can run a variety of operating systems, are in use today. SCO software, which also includes two versions of Unix, is in use at McDonald's, Kmart, Kroger, Target, Costco and Walgreens, the company said.

Among early Beetle-SCO customers is Budgens, a U. K.-based supermarket chain that uses more than 2,000 of the Linux terminals in conjunction with supporting software from PCMS Group. SCO, which wants to become profitable in fiscal 2003, is seeking to increase revenue where it can.