New Point-of-Sale Application

Dynamics POS 2009, Microsoft’s latest point-of-sale terminal and retail store management application, simplifies customization for partners and strengthens the company’s emphasis on specialty retail. However, the product can’t manage multiple retail stores by itself, and it does not provide a complete migration path for multistore customers of the company’s existing Retail Management System application.

Improved User Interface, Customization

POS 2009, which shipped in Aug. 2009, delivers point-of-sale data entry, inventory management, reporting, and other retail store management functions. It is designed to replace (and import data from) Microsoft’s Point of Sale (POS) 2.0 application for small retailers, and the Store Management module of the company’s Retail Management System (RMS) 2.0 application for larger retailers. Microsoft says that POS and RMS 2.0 together manage over 40,000 store locations, most in specialty retail (such as clothing or shoes). POS 2009 is distinct from the similarly named Windows Embedded POSReady 2009, an OS for point-of-sale devices; in fact, the POS 2009 application can run on Windows Embedded POSReady 2009.