Max Eskin wrote:
  In general, I would say that the amount of old
machines is greater
 than a given reasonable estimate (ie there's always one more).
 Also, I'm wondering how many simple cash registers will have to be
 taken out of service. 
The _simple_ cash registers will keep plugging along doing what they
do best.  As far as I can tell, they're not particularly sensitive
to what century they're in.  The complex fancy new-fangled registers
are a whole nother story -- anybody know what types of systems are
most used at the other end of the cables attached to the laser
bar-code readers?  Not an industry I've dealt with much except as a
consumer.  (I know damned well there are a few NCR registers still
in service from the 19th century -- they should make the transition
to the 21st without a hickup.)
--
Ward Griffiths
They say that politics makes strange bedfellows.
Of course, the main reason they cuddle up is to screw somebody else.
                                Michael Flynn, _Rogue Star_