Still booting after all these years

[gcode]

Here's a look inside the strange, stubborn world of obsolete Windows machines.

Earlier this year I was on my way to a checkup at a doctor's office in New York City. As I rode up to the 14th floor, my eyes were drawn to a screen built into the side of the lift. Staring back was a glimpse into the history of computing. There, in a gleaming hospital full of state-of-the-art machines, was an error message from an operating system released almost a quarter of a century ago. The elevator was running Windows XP.

[mkd]

I feel the same every morning 💪💪

[gcode]

I feel the same every morning 💪💪

MS-DOS 2.0 is sooo 80's 

[YoDoug]

Over the years I have run into situations on the job where a small company had an extremely outdated system of some sort. Then when it goes down the whole thing shuts down and no-one around to fix it. I can understand the cost/time to update is a deterrent for a small business, but what I can't grasp is how large ops like public utilities and services get in that situation.

[Newbeeee™]

....but what I can't grasp is how large ops like public utilities and services get in that situation.

What you have to come to terms with, is that the VAST majority of people working at and in the Goobermint, wouldn't last 5 minutes in a real job.
Except greeters at Wallymart etc....aka, the Gov, cannot run a bath.
But at local and regional level, none are expected to. All that is expected, is that they are to do as they're told, and take the flak for any shit....
 

[gcode]

Over the years I have run into situations on the job where a small company had an extremely outdated system of some sort. Then when it goes down the whole thing shuts down and no-one around to fix it. I can understand the cost/time to update is a deterrent for a small business,

I had a friend who worked at a company that made aircraft connectors.
They had about 15 bar feed lathes. Some were 4 axis twin turrets... very high tech for their day.
It was a license to print $$$.

The owner got tired of Cali BS and moved to Nevada, where he printed even more $$$.
They had been in business a long time and had a real honest to God, old school mainframe PC right out an old SciFi movie. whirring reels of tape flashing lights,  etc etc
It did all the scheduling, printed routers, calculated stock requirements  , etc etc...
It basically ran the company and had been doing that since the early 80's.
The machine was starting to have age related problems and the owner got a quote to upgrade the hardware/software and shop terminals to modern technology ( mid 90's)
He balked at the price and did nothing.
One day soon after, the mainframed failed.
Due to lack of parts and knowledgeable technician it could not be be resurrected.
There was no one in the organization left that knew how to do what that mainframe did, and the company was out of business within 6 months.

[CNCAppsJames]

I had a friend who worked at a company that made aircraft connectors.
They had about 15 bar feed lathes. Some were 4 axis twin turrets... very high tech for their day.
It was a license to print $$$.

The owner got tired of Cali BS and moved to Nevada, where he printed even more $$$.
They had been in business a long time and had a real honest to God, old school mainframe PC right out an old SciFi movie. whirring reels of tape flashing lights,
It did all the scheduling, printed routers, calculated stock requirements  , etc etc...
It basically ran the company and had been doing that since the early 80's.
The machine was starting to have age related problems and the owner go a quote to upgrade the hardware/software and shop terminals to modern technology ( mid 90's)
He balked at the price and did nothing.
One day the soon after, the mainframed failed.
Due to lack of parts and knowledgeable technician it could not be be resurrected.
There was no one in the organization left that knew how to do what that mainframe did, and the company was out of business within 6 months.

Penny-wise and pound foolish.

[CNCAppsJames]

Over the years I have run into situations on the job where a small company had an extremely outdated system of some sort. Then when it goes down the whole thing shuts down and no-one around to fix it. I can understand the cost/time to update is a deterrent for a small business, but what I can't grasp is how large ops like public utilities and services get in that situation.

ANYTHING government takes decades to do. It's just how they roll.

Take for example the Y2K "problem". Banks KNEW 30 years ahead of the problem that it would be a problem.

When they don't have to pay the penalty for stupidity, nothing happens.

[MIL-TFP-41]

The place where I get my homebrewing supplies is about the size of a good walk in closet, ran by the same old guy that I remember when I first got into the hobby back in the 90's. It has not been updated in all those years, including the computer where he does his transactions....still running Windows 95 complete with the flying through space screensaver.

[rdshear]

Who needs a modern windows computer when you can run your business on a commodore 64?

https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/a-small-doughnut-shop-in-indiana-is-still-using-commodore-64s-as-register-systems-42-years-after-their-initial-release/

[Jeff]

what I can't grasp is how large ops like public utilities and services get in that situation.

Because the city needs time to figure out how to make as much profit off of the upgrade as possible. Whether it be stuffing money into their own pockets, hiring friends and family to do the job (aka Kwame Kilpatrick of Detroit) or putting it off longer so they can get a larger budget and then re-figure out how to get rich off that larger budget.

[TSmcam]

We've gpt an old XP computer here running Cimco DNCMax 8. Its been running for about the past twelve years. That is all it does, and it has been totally reliable. It is networked to our Okumas to run DNC/DT as well.

However, we're about to install and use Cimco NCBase along with the DNCMax, and TopSolid Shopfloor, so it will be finally retired, and a new server put in its place )

[ghuns]

We have 2 old Roeders VMCs that we use to cut graphite that run XP. Same version they left the factory with. They were not new when I started here in 2008.

I'm not sure what version of Windows our 5X Roeders has. It's old enough(2016) to make our IT weenies cry. But it does about 2400IPM with linear motors. Can't be having any glitches caused by Windows Update when you're moving that fast.

[gcode]

We have 2 old Roeders VMCs that we use to cut graphite that run XP.

It's been a while since I messed with it, but I believe our first Okuma MU1000H runs Win XP
It has an OSP 2000 control and was built in 2012

[YoDoug]

I do have a slight concern here about some of my custom automation apps. The Okuma controls we have are either 7 or 10. Okuma will not be updating these. I use the Okuma .NET API to send/receive data between the machine control and robot/PLC. The API uses and older .NET framework and I have not successfully gotten anything higher than .NET 4.0 to run in the control. Now that could be because of my limited programming skills. The issue is Visual Studio only supports that old of .NET in V2019. V2019 is set to end support in 2029. This could end up with a situation where I need to keep an older PC with older OS to run older VS to support the machines. It's a back burner problem for now, but I do know I will want to find a solution before I am forced to.