vintage computers in active use

[Rod Smallwood]

On 26/05/2016 17:48, Fred Cisin wrote:
> 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.)?
>
>
Sounds like good security to me.  Try hacking that lot.

R