At a previous $job (left about 6 months ago) they were still running Solomon 5 from 1997 (iirc) which was completely unpatched. Of course they had no patches and you could no longer get them. I was there 4 years before leaving and they still had not decided on a new ERP system. I did however manage to get the client working on windows 7 after some very long nights.
On Mon, Mar 23, 2015 at 2:46 PM, Tom Perrine <tom.perr...@gmail.com> wrote: > The oldest protocol we're running anywhere is IPv4. > > (It had to be said! :-) ) > > On Mon, Mar 23, 2015 at 1:35 PM, David Parter <dpar...@cs.wisc.edu> wrote: > > I think there are (at least) two distinct scenarios for running old > > software: > > > > 1) infrastructure: the difficulty of transitioning from old to new. This > > includes the dollar cost of the new software (and hardware) and the huge > > amount of staff time needed: both immediately obvious (the actual > > transition/migration) and the not-so-obviouscosts and time necessary to > > really understand and deal with all the dependencies, both technological > and > > business-process. It is very hard to know all the ways that people are > using > > the features (and oddities) of any major software infrastructure. And > > getting people to change how they work is really hard, especially when > they > > don't see any advantage or benefit. > > > > 2) applications: some people don't like change, so they resist moving to > new > > versions or replacements for anything. Others have a legitimate need (or > > legitimate perceived need) to be able to deal with documents and other > data > > from the old applications. It took us many many years to finally get rid > of > > really really old drawing programs that faculty were either using, or > > thought that they might need to update the images that they use in their > > teaching. > > > > --david > > > > > > On 03/23/15 15:10, Esther Schindler wrote: > > > > > > I recently listened to an IT manager talk about how many Novell Netware > > servers the organization still used. I could hear the pain in his voice. > > > > I’m planning to write a blog post about the old software that IT folks > and > > developers have to support. I’m thinking it might be entertaining… in a > > schadenfreude way. And perhaps the “why” answers can give us all insight > > into what makes organizations hold onto legacy applications, for good or > > ill. > > > > I’m not looking for answers about custom applications or in-house > software. > > The reasons to hold onto old custom code are relatively well-known, and a > > different discussion. But software you acquired from a vendor…? > > > > But… what’s the oldest software your shop still uses? Why is it still in > > place? > > > > Send me a note privately if you like, but I'm not planning to quote > anyone > > by name. It does help to have a context (e.g. "says a sysadmin at a > midwest > > insurance company") but it’s the experience that matters, not the > company or > > source’s name. > > > > --Esther > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Discuss mailing list > > Discuss@lists.lopsa.org > > https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > > This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators > > http://lopsa.org/ > > > > > > -- > > David Parter > > Director of Academic Computing Services > > University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences Department > > dpar...@cs.wisc.edu > > 608-262-0608 > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Discuss mailing list > > Discuss@lists.lopsa.org > > https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > > This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators > > http://lopsa.org/ > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss@lists.lopsa.org > https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators > http://lopsa.org/ >
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