[Milsurplus] old software

[Peter Gottlieb]

Who said they were killing off any of their machines?  This is about 
software... and they are running Linux on some very very old hardware with 
simple modifications (ie, more memory) which gives modern network 
connectivity to legacy databases.

When I was in banking (investment banking) we ran most stuff on either 
Solaris or Windows NT and some of that stuff was fairly serious including 
real time portfolio optimization.  With cross checking and redundancy these 
systems can be quite reliable, if you engineer them correctly.

As for the military systems, I do know that linux is making it into some of 
them, although they use special versions of linux, not exactly bleeding edge 
Fedora with the latest kernel.  I also know someone who did some rather 
advanced stuff using a variant of LISP for an agency which shall remain 
nameless.

The problem for all of us is that as processor driven systems become surplus 
they will be difficult if not impossible to work with.  I am involved with 
the MARS ALE project and I can tell you that even handling protocols like 
that put the internal operation of radios beyond the understanding of most 
casual or amateur operators.




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "William Donzelli" <aw288 at osfn.org>
To: "Peter Gottlieb" <nerd at verizon.net>
Cc: <Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2004 10:23 PM
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] old software


>> Not only is IBM
>> shipping Linux but has committed to convert the entire company to a mix 
>> of
>> Linux, AIX and other Unix variants.  This is a very significant move.
>
> Since when did the mainframe line get killed off? Or the AS/400 line?
>
> When the financial network of this country goes decides to get off these
> two platforms in favor of *nix or Windows, all I can say is INVEST IN
> GOLD.
>
> Seriously, *nix is not the savior to all of computings problems (ie
> Microsoft). In relation to just about every other OS still in use (z/OS,
> OS/400, openVMS, GCOS, etc.), *nix is a marginally stable collection of
> inconsistently written code with more security holes than a screen
> door. Yes, better than Windows - but not much.
>
> Since this is turning off-topic, I'll bow out now...
>
> William Donzelli
> aw288 at osfn.org
>
>