In 1986 Gene Mosher assembled the Atari ST520 with a 12" color
display, a MicroTouch capacitive touchscreen and a Star Micronics
DP8340 printer to create the first graphical touchscreen point of
sale software and computer system. He named it 'ViewTouch' and
first installed the POS system in The Mill Camp Restaurant on Q
Street in Springfield, Oregon in July, 1986. ViewTouch POS was
first demonstrated publicly at the ComDex (Computer Dealer
Exposition) in Las Vegas in November, 1986, and in March, 1987 at
the Canadian National Restaurant Exposition in Toronto.
The POS system's graphical interface was created by a
comprehensive collection of 'buttons' or widgets which were
designed to mimic all of the keys which could be found on an
electronic cash register as well as drive the interface to all of
the various management functions built into the software, many of
which Mosher had created as far back as 1977 when writing POS
software on his Apple II computer for the restaurants he operated
in Norfolk, Virginia and in Syracuse, New York. These were carried
forward into the graphical touchscreen POS software introduced in
1986 and included sales history, time clock, expense management,
labor cost accounting and remote printing to the food preparation
area of his restaurants.
The ViewTouch POS system was the first documented computer
system to make use of a system of colorgraphic touchscreen widgets
which could be directly manipulated by end users and which
comprised a complete solution package for the hospitality vertical
market.
