> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- > Van: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] Namens Fred Cisin > Verzonden: donderdag 26 mei 2016 18:48 > Aan: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > Onderwerp: Re: vintage computers in active use > > On Thu, 26 May 2016, Brent Hilpert wrote: > > A friend notice this in the news, I heard it mentioned on the radio this morning > too: > > http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36385839 > > extract: > > The report said that the Department of Defence systems that co- > ordinated > > intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers and tanker support > aircraft > > "runs on an IBM Series-1 Computer - a 1970s computing system - and > uses > > eight-inch floppy disks". > > "This system remains in use because, in short, it still works," > Pentagon spokeswoman Lt Col Valerie Henderson told the AFP news agency. > > And, THAT is why it MUST be replaced immediately by "modern" hardware and > software, to put an end to that. Windows10 can change that. > > > "According to the report, the US treasury also needed to upgrade its systems, > which it said was using "assembly language code - a computer language initially > used in the 1950s and typically tied to the hardware for which it was > developed"." > > And, THAT is the reasoning for replacement? > Not even an understanding of what assembly language IS. > "Nobody programs in assembly language any more, nor ever will again" - > Clancy/Harvey > > > "Eight-inch floppy disks date back to the early days of computer systems" > > The author is unaware of the many decades of computers, including military, > prior to floppy disks. Mag tape? EAM (punch-cards, etc.)?
But doesn't that be an implementation of the famous "don't ask don't tell strategy" ? -Rik