On Thu, May 26, 2016 at 2:53 PM, Noel Chiappa <j...@mercury.lcs.mit.edu> wrote:
> > From: Ethan O'Toole > > > Might not be a bad idea to make a wiki page somewhere and ... source > > generic replacements. This way vendor/part# of modern replacements > can > > be had for old belt drive floppys and computer tape drives? > > I think the audio cassette deck enthusiasts do something like this > > Excellent idea. The data can be put on the Computer History wiki; I've been > putting a lot of PDP-11 info up there. Let me know if you have data to > post, > and can't get access. > > > > From: Paul Koning > > > It clearly is not all that accurate. In a discussion of "old" > systems, > > it mentions a system with "reported age 52 years" but it "runs on > > windows server 2008 and is programmed in Java". ... A number of other > > examples are similar. For example, a "56 year old" IRS system that > > actually runs on an IBM z series machine from 2010. > > Perhaps this is just sloppy writing, and they really 'the application is 52 > years old, but it has been translated into Java'? And the latter one could > easily be System/360 code from 56 years ago, running on a z series. > > Noel > Back to the original story: there's another angle on this with government work. I once tried to acquire a vintage system through an auction house. We (LCM) won the auction, but the next day the auction house refunded our money - apparently the machine was pushed into the wrong room and was not to be auctioned off. I begged for it anyway, and was told that because it was part of an active program (testing for some fighter jet), it was still in use. When I suggested modernizing, I was told that changing the hardware would require *re-certifying the entire workflow*. In other words, it was far more economical to maintain a 70's era computer than spec, design, acquire/build and certify a new system. I suspect that "journalism" like this is prompted by (and likely paid for) by companies who profit from getting people on the endless-upgrade merry-go-round. But then I'm cantankerous that way. Cheers -- Ian -- Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu> Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical Narrative Through a Design Lens Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org> Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org> University of Washington There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."
