I post this because every large organisation I've ever worked far has had this dependency in some shape or form:
xkcd.com/2347/
(, Tue 18 Aug 2020, 9:54, Reply)
Not forgetting the perennial, 'can't we just replace it?' followed by an explanation of how intertwined it is with everything else and just how much it will cost to rework everything around it and verify that the end result is still the same.
(, Tue 18 Aug 2020, 10:30, Reply)
systems from lats 90's that critical systems need that have no support that have just worked, no security patches never been switched off etc.
or critical systems that somehow rely on peoples desktops being turned on!
(, Tue 18 Aug 2020, 10:55, Reply)
The company I left in 2010 still had several vital systems running on VAX/VMS. It was a bloody timebomb.
(, Tue 18 Aug 2020, 11:32, Reply)
Smart light bulbs have probably more computing power than the old PDP11
(, Tue 18 Aug 2020, 12:40, Reply)
There were three VAX 4000s, clustered together sharing a stack of SCSI disks with at least one failed disk in there. I couldn't tell you what subtypes they were except that the name Model 500 seems to ring a bell.
My interaction with them was limited to pressing the power button and running whatever arcane command was required to get them running again whenever the power had died.
I couldn't even tell you if they had functional backups.
(, Tue 18 Aug 2020, 13:50, Reply)
though I'd guess finding experienced staff will become an ever greater headache. Suspect the virus will prompt a move towards change as the old grey heads become fewer.
(, Tue 18 Aug 2020, 13:15, Reply)
but there's still a pretty big market for COBOL programmers.
(, Tue 18 Aug 2020, 20:46, Reply)
Everyone in IT sorta carved out their patch. Struggled to impress upon the non-techie manager what would happen were any of the sys-admins to get hit by a bus.
(, Tue 18 Aug 2020, 12:35, Reply)
...that I've got 2 apps like that that I wrote accidentally that are now - apparently - 24/7 mission critical apps.
(, Tue 18 Aug 2020, 16:58, Reply)
Access of course - Excel is for amateurs. Ours are making 32-bit API calls so the clock is ticking
(, Wed 19 Aug 2020, 10:12, Reply)