Speaking as someone who has firsthand knowledge (but not with Secret Service) of using 1980s mainframes (yes the hardware, not just the applications) in government as late as 3 years ago when the system was finally taken offline, budget is most likely not the issue.
If someone who built the system is still around keeping it running, they have a tendency to fight tooth and nail to keep it from being replaced. Government employees don't always have the same incentives to keep their skills up to date as in the private sector, and will oftentimes feel threatened by the new. Retirements have replaced more antiquated IT systems in government than anything else. It has also been one of the bigger incentives to use what we actually have available, like Unix services, etc... Frank Finley, CISSP Information System Security Officer Pay and Personnel Center -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:ibm-m...@bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Staller, Allan Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 7:43 AM To: IBM-MAIN@bama.ua.edu Subject: Re: More calumny: "Secret Service Uses 1980s Mainframe" <snip> Wonder what the real story is here -- a 9370 in a closet? http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-secret-service-outdated-computer-mainf rame-system-1980s/story?id=9945663 </snip> And how many Dem budget cuts prevented a more timely upgrade? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
