MICROS Systems

MICROS Systems, Inc.; now owned by Oracle Corporation, was headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, USA. The company manufactured and sold computer hardware, software, and services for the restaurant point of sale, hotel, hospitality, specialty retail markets and other similar markets. Analyst estimates cited in 2003 put MICROS' market share at about 35% of the restaurant point-of-sale business.

MICROS Systems' software and hardware is used in the restaurant industry and primarily includes touchscreen computers for the serving staff to place orders, which are then sent to kitchen and bar printers for preparation. The back-office and enterprise software allow different types of reports, such as total sales and total menu items sold, to be produced. MICROS provides different products for different restaurant sizes and styles, including products for single-entity restaurants, major chain restaurants (with centralized reporting) and multiple-restaurant properties, including casinos, stadiums and cruise ships. MICROS products have the ability to interface to other systems such as inventory control systems and hotel systems. MICROS-Fidelio, a division/part of MICROS, offers several products for hotel systems including Property Management Systems, Central Reservations Systems, and Sales & Catering software, and is often installed at the same site as MICROS point of sale systems for interface integration.

Windows 8.1

Windows 8.1 (codenamed Blue) is an upgrade for Windows 8, a version of Windows NT, a computer operating system released by Microsoft. First unveiled and released as a public beta in June 2013, it was released to manufacturing on August 27, 2013, and reached general availability on October 17, 2013, almost a year after the retail release of its predecessor. Windows 8.1 is available free of charge for retail copies of Windows 8 and Windows RT users via the Windows Store. Unlike service packs on previous versions of Windows, users who obtained 8 outside of retail copies or pre-loaded installations (i.e., volume licensing) must obtain 8.1 through new installation media from their respective subscription or enterprise channel. Microsoft's support lifecycle policy treats Windows 8.1 similar to previous service packs of Windows: It is part of Windows 8's support lifecycle, and installing 8.1 is required to maintain access to support and Windows updates after January 12, 2016. However, unlike previous service packs, Windows 8.1 cannot be acquired via Windows Update.