Linux at Lowes

Linux at Lowes

Submitted by Rick on July 19, 2008 - 9:13pm.

Riding Shotgun with Rick

I'm in the middle of a pretty major house refurbishing right now and am making frequent trips to the hardware stores and elsewhere. Today, while asking a Lowes rep a question, I glanced at one of the computer screens and saw Firefox for Lowes on the title bar. I was blown away that a major corporation had the good sense to use Firefox, then as I scanned the monitor, there was no sign of a start button. Instead, I immediately recognized a Linux like Start button that looked similar to the Xfce desktop that Xubuntu uses.

I don't think the employee would have had a clue what Linux was or why I would be curious, but I was. I'm willing to bet that computer maintenance costs are extremely low at Lowes compared to Windows based businesses of the same size. I'm sure they have some Windows boxes somewhere, but on the floor, it looked Linux on almost every monitor I saw.

Curious about how long they had been using Linux, I did a quick Google search and found that I wasn't the only eagle eyed shopper spotting Linux at Lowes, the subject has been kicked around for at least three or four years.

Have you seen Linux running on any other major shopping chain computers?

Here's Lowe's IT engineering descriptions

Submitted by Smart Computer User on July 21, 2008 - 4:46am.

IT Engineering
With over 1,025 stores and numerous Distribution Centers located throughout the United States, IT Engineering personnel are responsible for architecting, specifying, developing and supporting the entire technical infrastructure that serves all of Lowe’s computing needs including all voice and data communications, Z-Series, CICS, DB2, Teradata,, Windows 2000, Windows XP, LAN, WAN and CAD technologies. Their scope of responsibility includes our stores, distribution facilities, field locations and remote computing by field staff. This area is organized into 5 groups: Technology Integration & Database Engineering, Z-Series & Storage Engineering, Mid-Range Server & Workstation Engineering, Communication Services, and UNIX Engineering.

In our Technology Integration & Database Engineering team, Database Analysts and Database Administrators design and maintain computer data for all systems using DB2, Teradata, Sybase, Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. Additionally, Project Managers organize and manage technology infrastructure projects needed for the successful delivery of large business-driven initiatives.

The Z-Series & Storage Engineering staff installs and maintains system software and provides configuration planning and management for all large systems platforms housed on our Corporate Data Center. Available positions include System Programmers, Storage Managers and Project Managers.

Mid-Range Server & Workstation Engineers architect, configure, install and maintain Windows/Intel-based mid-range server and PC computing platforms for the entire company.

Communications Services personnel are responsible for architecture planning, implementation, and operation of the LAN networks and all terrestrial and satellite-based WAN networks which support Lowe’s business application systems and voice communication requirements. Network Engineers, Voice Telecom Engineers and Communication Services Project Managers are examples of positions in this area.

UNIX Engineers take the lead in architecting and configuring both UNIX-based, Radio Frequency and Computer Aided Design platforms used in our stores and distribution facilities. They engineer various peripheral devices used in those locations, as well. They are also responsible for the web server environment which services increasing numbers of our business applications.

Unfortunately Linux is not listed anywhere.