Emulation or the real thing?

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Wed Oct 21 18:57:55 1998

John Foust <jfoust_at_threedee.com> wrote:
> This reminds me of a claim I hear in Y2K discussions, but can hardly
> believe: that businesses are running the same *executables* since
> the 1950s/60s/70s, and that they don't have the source code to fix it.
> Sure, they might not have the source to the OS, but their own apps?

It's true. Haven't you ever worked for a big business? They lose all
kinds of stuff.

> And that there's been no other reason to change or replace the
> programs in all these years,

That's exactly how the source gets lost. If they had to modify the source
every week, they wouldn't lose it.

Let's see, is the source for our payroll system that was written in 1962 on
7-track tape or punched cards? Maybe if we're lucky it might be on
Hypertape or a 2311.

Although the media problems are relatively minor when you look at the big
picture. The companies would tend to lose the source code even if it was on
modern media.

Even the vendors tend not to have source code for old software. If a
company that is in the *business* of writing software loses their old
stuff, what do you think happens with companies for whom software was
written just as a means to an end?

Eric
Received on Wed Oct 21 1998 - 18:57:55 BST