tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15888307.post5787072051335304133..comments2024-03-21T01:01:49.406-04:00Comments on The Phantom Soapbox: Government is a disease.The Phantomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10159748429049446398noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15888307.post-70644781393607307302019-03-09T10:59:02.612-05:002019-03-09T10:59:02.612-05:00Now, speaking of private businesses, we can safely...<i>Now, speaking of private businesses, we can safely assume that there are none still running faulty databases on antique AS-400 hardware from the 1980s.</i><br /><br />Well, some are to a degree.<br /><br />I say this as someone who worked in an AS-400 shop this century (although not this decade). The AS-400 still exists as the Series i. The hardware is completely different, but the services available to a developer and a sys admin are a proper superset of those from the original from the 70s.<br /><br />IBM puts a great deal of importance on upward compatibility. Today's Z series mainframe can support an identical environment to the S/360 of the 60s.<br /><br />Most shops are on new hardware for one of two reasons. The obvious one is greater capability. The lesser know, but quite common for trailing shops is the end of IBM support, which is worth its cost. When your system stops being supported IBM is ready with a new low end upgrade well within your budget.<br /><br />As for the software, while the SF Assessor's office can't keep pace that is often not the case. The AS-400 shop I worked, which migrated to a iSeries (and probably to a Series i by now) pretty much used the same software as they had in 1980, a inventory and sales management system (they were a distributor of products to hobby shops) written in RPG. Sure, the code needed maintenance, such as integration with new PC that handled all the shipping information for UPS, but the core system still worked just as well as in 1980.<br /><br />The costs of ripping it out and replacing it were much, much higher than any gains a more modern system would create.<br /><br />So, while physical old hardware, such as actual VAXen is an issue, older designs, such as the AS-400, and the software written on them are not inherently bad nor is replacing them always the best choice for a private business.Pulp Herbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02486803457210325703noreply@blogger.com