If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Even if 3/4 of your budget goes there.

[Barrister]

Avatars make it easier to identify posts, because a picture is easier to recognize than a word.  It also broadcasts your persanolity to the rest of the forum.

Your personality is "Duffman"?

My personality is definitely granite and ice. 

[Barrister]

After finally seeing with my own two eyes how a major federal agency deals with IT projects--from selection to procurement, to go-live and support--staying with legacy systems actually seems to be the safer angle.

It is stunning to behold, actually.

The justice system in Alberta is all run on this old COBOL-written, CLI-only piece of software called JOIN.  It's fairly powerful in it's own way - a skilled person can pull all kinds of information out of it.  But it reminds me when in the mid-90s I worked for AECL and had to use a VAX terminal - all about remembering obscure text commands and keystroke combinations in order to do anything.

As I understand it they would love to move away from it, but the data-migration issues make it nearly impossible.  So either they break all backwards-compatibility (because right now it keeps records from today all the way back to the mid-90s), or try and maintain two simultaneous systems at the same time.

I can see why they keep chugging along with JOIN, but the necessity to move to a more modern system is only going to grow over time.

[Zanza]

I think the ratio is similar in all big organisations that don't use software as their main means of production. Replacing IT assets is expensive and it often just does not make economic sense to replace a system that does its job reasonably well.

That said I am currently working on replacing a 25 year old legacy application. One of the reasons we do it now is that the experts are "dying out" fast.

[Malthus]

Avatars make it easier to identify posts, because a picture is easier to recognize than a word.  It also broadcasts your persanolity to the rest of the forum.

Your personality is "Duffman"?

My personality is definitely granite and ice. 

My personality is ... oh wait. 

[viper37]

I can see why they keep chugging along with JOIN, but the necessity to move to a more modern system is only going to grow over time.

that's what happens when you wait too long.

had they performed smaller upgrades over the years, it is likely they would have had tools to preserve compatibility with the data.  30 years later?  Pretty hard to find.

[CountDeMoney]

LOL, Shareholder Value, Inc., didn't give two shits about preserving data compatibility, and only wished legacy people actually would die off.  It was the fact that every year the System 390 mainframe and its DB2 database continued to work flawlessly was one more year of having to employ the mainframe team--and nothing made the CFO see pure red more than the realization that vested employees from the '90s still walked the earth receiving a salary.

[DGuller]

Good god, mainframe.  It works well when your definitions of what "works" hasn't changed in 30 years, and never will.  God forbid if you're the kind of employee who actually is motivated enough to want to improve things, and have to report to people with Seedy's mindset.  That will knock such silly notions out of you in a hurry, if you're not smart enough to seek new employment soon.

[CountDeMoney]

Hey, capital projects require capital allocations.  Don't want to spend the money to replace the mainframe? Don't bitch about spending the money to maintain it.  Isn't that what the IG's report is all about: throwing new money at old solutions?

Don't worry, DG, it all had a happy ending:  those mainframe guys got their just desserts from Murders & Acquisitions.

LOL, "the kind of employee motivated enough to want to improve things", too funny.

[DGuller]

LOL, "the kind of employee motivated enough to want to improve things", too funny.

Yes, they do exist.  Until they get tested by the wise old cynics, then their numbers start decreasing.

[CountDeMoney]

LOL, "the kind of employee motivated enough to want to improve things", too funny.

Yes, they do exist.  Until they get tested by the wise old cynics, then their numbers start decreasing.

If only you were there to pull all that capital project money out of your ass to replace that mainframe.  Because, you know, nobody ever tried.

[grumbler]

LOL, "the kind of employee motivated enough to want to improve things", too funny.

Yes, they do exist.  Until they get tested by the wise old cynics, then their numbers start decreasing.

If only you were there to pull all that capital project money out of your ass to replace that mainframe.  Because, you know, nobody ever tried.

He could have done it.  After all, he was in a Capital Project Club in college.

[MadImmortalMan]

After finally seeing with my own two eyes how a major federal agency deals with IT projects--from selection to procurement, to go-live and support--staying with legacy systems actually seems to be the safer angle.

It is stunning to behold, actually.

The justice system in Alberta is all run on this old COBOL-written, CLI-only piece of software called JOIN.  It's fairly powerful in it's own way - a skilled person can pull all kinds of information out of it.  But it reminds me when in the mid-90s I worked for AECL and had to use a VAX terminal - all about remembering obscure text commands and keystroke combinations in order to do anything.

As I understand it they would love to move away from it, but the data-migration issues make it nearly impossible.  So either they break all backwards-compatibility (because right now it keeps records from today all the way back to the mid-90s), or try and maintain two simultaneous systems at the same time.

I can see why they keep chugging along with JOIN, but the necessity to move to a more modern system is only going to grow over time.

In your case, there would be significant advantages to society if all backward compatibility were lost. Think of all the clean slates. 

[garbon]

Avatars make it easier to identify posts, because a picture is easier to recognize than a word.  It also broadcasts your persanolity to the rest of the forum.

If you hear Marti tell it, I'm projecting that I'm an ISIS murderess.

[The Brain]

Good god, mainframe.  It works well when your definitions of what "works" hasn't changed in 30 years, and never will. 

Do you think that life in Alpha Complex can be improved?

[MadImmortalMan]

That said I am currently working on replacing a 25 year old legacy application. One of the reasons we do it now is that the experts are "dying out" fast.

So are the hackers who know how to manipulate those old systems. Maybe they are actually more secure.