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Secret Service Runs At "Six Sixes" Availability

PCM2 writes "ABC News is reporting that the US Secret Service is in dire need of server upgrades. 'Currently, 42 mission-oriented applications run on a 1980s IBM mainframe with a 68 percent performance reliability rating,' says one leaked memo. That finding was the result of an NSA study commissioned by the Secret Service to evaluate the severity of their computer problems. Curiously, upgrades to the Service's computers are being championed by Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who says he's had 'concern for a while' about the issue."

248 comments

  1. Wow. by moogied · · Score: 4, Funny

    They should just flip the availability numbers over and get rid of the decimal. "Sir, its not 66.. its 99! You have it upside down!" -- Fixed.

    --
    So basically, -1 troll/offtopic is really slashdots way of saying "I hate that you thought of something before me."
    1. Re:Wow. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      66.6666% -> 9999.99%????

    2. Re:Wow. by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      and get rid of the decimal.

      What, don't you realize they could have 999% reliability?? This could be revolutionary!! Think what you are saying, you nearly threw that away.

      --
      Qxe4
    3. Re:Wow. by fdsafdsafdasfdsafdsi · · Score: 1

      funny, the headline says the computers only work at 60 percent capacity, so they still have headroom of 40%. What's the problem?

    4. Re:Wow. by hedwards · · Score: 1

      I think that means that it logs into itself at times to do things you might do. Think of how revolutionary that really is. Perhaps next we can get a server that plays solitaire for you while you're away from the server room.

    5. Re:Wow. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, ITS OVER 9000!!!1

    6. Re:Wow. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      he said FLIP, not ROTATE.

  2. Upgrade... by ak_hepcat · · Score: 5, Funny

    To windows, and get 73% uptime!

    Or.. that other OS that you don't have to license per seat, and get in the solid 90+% uptime.

    --
    Support FSF: Stop thinking with your wallet, and think with your imagination. (cc/non-commercial)
    1. Re:Upgrade... by Anpheus · · Score: 1

      If you can't manage two nines on a basic windows server, you're doing it wrong. If your service depends on a single server, you're still doing it wrong.

      Lastly, is a performance reliability rating the same thing as uptime? I doubt it. If their server is down eight hours a day, they'd swap it immediately.

    2. Re:Upgrade... by scubamage · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If their server is down eight hours a day, they'd swap it immediately.

      As soon as they fill out all of the paperwork, and find a way to blame the downtime on someone with we don't like.

    3. Re:Upgrade... by Superdarion · · Score: 1

      No no, you can't let those pesky open source lads win!

    4. Re:Upgrade... by Anpheus · · Score: 1

      I'll pre-whoosh myself here:

      *whoosh*

      There, with that out of the way. Actually, it's probably going to take until they can resurrect their last COBOL programmer or find someone who they can train on a thirty year old system in less than a year.

    5. Re:Upgrade... by TapeCutter · · Score: 4, Funny

      "If your service depends on a single server, you're still doing it wrong."

      666 666 -> Devilishly clever redundancy.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    6. Re:Upgrade... by peragrin · · Score: 3, Informative

      if you can't manage 2 nines on a an IBM mainframe your doing it wrong to begin with what makes you think they can do with something vastly more complicated as a massive windows deployment.

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    7. Re:Upgrade... by timmarhy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      90+ uptime for free is useless if the OS can't fill your requirements.

      --
      If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
    8. Re:Upgrade... by timmarhy · · Score: 0

      the top 8 uptimes on netcraft are windows you fool. http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/today/top.avg.html

      --
      If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
    9. Re:Upgrade... by Anpheus · · Score: 1

      I made that point in my second sentence. I can't imagine a mainframe with an active support contract has less than 99% uptime. I'm pretty sure that "performance reliability rating" is not a euphemism for "service level availability."

    10. Re:Upgrade... by Nerdfest · · Score: 1

      It's never the hardware failures that get you on any platform. From what I've seen, 99% of all outages are caused by idiots.

    11. Re:Upgrade... by Mick+R · · Score: 0, Troll

      I can't think of a better advertisement FOR Linux that that!

    12. Re:Upgrade... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/accuracy.html#cycle250

      And that's partly why? Netcraft is incapable of measuring uptime for 2.6 kernels.

    13. Re:Upgrade... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've only caused 93%... the other 7% was hardware failure, I swear.

      On a serious note, working with small businesses that have machines a decade old (they work, why replace them?), it's now the reverse. The only working of the 2 redundant PSUs died overnight? Yeah you're fucked. Good luck even finding a new random ass Compaq PSU.

    14. Re:Upgrade... by Hadlock · · Score: 1

      If their server is down eight hours a day, they'd swap it immediately.

      Maybe they just turn it off when they head home at night, and then back on in the morning when they get there? Perhaps the admin is trying to be 'green' DID YOU EVER THINK OF THAT.
       
      :)

      --
      moox. for a new generation.
    15. Re:Upgrade... by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      Two nines? What, 9.9% ?

      Even a monkey could manage that.

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    16. Re:Upgrade... by mikep554 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Half of those show as IIS 5.0/Windows 2000. There is no way that a Windows 2000 box has stayed online for 1700 days (over 5 years!!!) without being pwned and crashed. For large sites that do load balancing and such, Netcraft is a better indicator of SITE uptime instead of uptime for a single particular box.

    17. Re:Upgrade... by tsm_sf · · Score: 1

      you're confusing "work" with "business related activities". One of these is handled by every OS, the other requires Windows.

      --
      Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
    18. Re:Upgrade... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If that's not ignorant bias, I don't know what is.

    19. Re:Upgrade... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree with this,back in the day my dad was an AS350/400 mainframe programmer (now we call them system architects). He was on the lead to for a morgage lender/bank the bank folded years before the lender as their side of the house made a profit.

      The uptime on these things was incredible but when something crashes it goes down hard. anyhow an uptime that low mean people get fired and upper management heads will roll. Even now he does mainframe database security at another bank these things are rock solid, they are doing something terribly wrong.

    20. Re:Upgrade... by OnlineAlias · · Score: 1

      An AS400 is a mid-range, not a mainframe...

    21. Re:Upgrade... by symbolset · · Score: 1

      This may be true, but there exist some plaforms that exhibit more uptime than others. Can it be that the admins of the former have greater skill?

      --
      Help stamp out iliturcy.
    22. Re:Upgrade... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remember that saying: "first they laugh, then you win"? It applies here to Microsoft.

      Because jokes about Windows reliability stopped being funny about a decade ago with the release of Windows NT. And they definitely don't make sense today.

    23. Re:Upgrade... by BlackHawk-666 · · Score: 1

      You always expect the AS400 to be a bit more impressive the way the AS400 guys would talk about it. Then one day I walked into the room where it was kept and had to stifle a laugh.

      --
      All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
    24. Re:Upgrade... by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      I was under the impression that while the interface between a redundant PSU cage and the PSUs that go inside it was usually proprietary they usually connected to the motherboard using standard cables and connectors so you should be able to hook up a standard PSU.

      If the cabling is nonstandard there is always wire cutters and either terminal block, crimps or solder and heatshrink ;)

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    25. Re:Upgrade... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, because mainframes are rock fucking solid at all times. Yup. That's right. We in the working industry believe you. We really do. Uh huh. Nevermind the 4 hour bridge I was on a few weeks ago with a client having "mainframe issues" which were tracked down to some serious OS issue from the vendor. Yup, mainframes, rock solid at all times.

    26. Re:Upgrade... by wwphx · · Score: 2, Informative

      The bias against mainframes is sad, but as old as their equipment is, the whole thing does need to be scrapped. That said, I don't think the photo with the article is of their actual system. Our mainframe is about to be retired, and the only time it was restarted was twice a year to adjust for DST because it wasn't properly maintained and a DST patch was never installed. Our other downtime with it was mainly because the building UPS couldn't support it during power failures. Otherwise, 99% plus was not a problem, much better than our Windoze boxes.

      Rewrite their apps into a DB2 database on a mainframe, provide a gateway into NCIC, and you'd really have something.

      --
      When you sympathize with stupidity, you start thinking like an idiot.
    27. Re:Upgrade... by ralphdaugherty · · Score: 1

      An AS400 is a mid-range, not a mainframe...

            although the highest end AS/400 system i or system p (OS/400 or AIX) the 595 now 795 ranks with the largest IBM mainframe.

        rd

    28. Re:Upgrade... by ralphdaugherty · · Score: 1

      You always expect the AS400 to be a bit more impressive the way the AS400 guys would talk about it. Then one day I walked into the room where it was kept and had to stifle a laugh.

            true, the electronics have become much smaller through the years. Even the ones that run multi-billion dollar companies that I work on are not behemoths.

            I have a 270 that can handle quite a load in my apartment. Also new large Linux and Windows servers and my AS/400 270 is only about three times the size of a PC server. I have a larger AS/400 825 stored in the garage as it requires two 220 volt hookups and I don't have that extra capacity in my apartment.

        rd

  3. Here's An Idea ... by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... I have several old P4 1.6Ghz w/ 256MB RAM & 100Mhz FSB in a store room at a client site. They originally shipped with Win 98 but they've since been upgraded to XP. The Secret Service can have them fro free if they just come and pick them up. I would have put them on Craig's List but I don't trust a web site where they let just anybody post things.

    1. Re:Here's An Idea ... by Tromad · · Score: 1

      If you have an old 486 I'll take it. I wish I kept mine (mom sold it in a garage sale). DOSbox just isn't the same.

    2. Re:Here's An Idea ... by fm6 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I could point out that the cost of replacing this mainframe would mostly involve rewriting its applications to run on modern hardware. But then you'd be deprived of your joke, even if it is a pretty lame one.

    3. Re:Here's An Idea ... by failedlogic · · Score: 0

      Why do people bother using 'old' with P4 and especially a 286, 386, C64? Is is that there are 'new' ones that you can just buy on the market? Seems redundant.

    4. Re:Here's An Idea ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      it's an IBM mainframe. They can replace it with another (modern) IBM mainframe, no code change necessary. Posting anonymously, so you can believe it or not, but I do have a clue about the specifics. It's not a technical problem, it's not a financial problem, it's a bureaucratic problem. Government at it's finest.

    5. Re:Here's An Idea ... by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 0, Troll

      I could point out that the cost of replacing this mainframe would mostly involve rewriting its applications to run on modern hardware. But then you'd be deprived of your joke, even if it is a pretty lame one.

      You are correct, and I hope someone gives you an 'Informative' point. Alas, this is /. Those of us who are 'early posting Karma monkeys' get modded up simply because people with Mod points don't want to slog through all the posts in a thread so they use them early and move on.

      Thanks for understanding.

    6. Re:Here's An Idea ... by Gordo_1 · · Score: 0

      My first thought was that there might be an emulator out there for that IBM hardware that would allow them to forgo the re-write. That way they get the reliability benefits of modern commodity hardware without all the heavy code lifting -- then again, maybe the code itself is part of the reliability problem...

    7. Re:Here's An Idea ... by aliquis · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You can get a 486 (DX2 66 MHz?) with 40 MB ram and eventually four harddrives, 3com 509b NIC and I think two disk drives if you come pick it up here.

      I live in Sweden.

    8. Re:Here's An Idea ... by mr_mischief · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually, as AC already pointed out, the idea that you'd need to rewrite anything is incorrect. One could for added speed, but the IBM mainframe line runs the code for every IBM mainframe for the last few decades without changes. There are reasons people buy them, you know.

    9. Re:Here's An Idea ... by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 1

      Why do people bother using 'old' with P4 and especially a 286, 386, C64? Is is that there are 'new' ones that you can just buy on the market? Seems redundant.

      I'm pretty sure the older you are the more often you use 'old' to describe things (I am, in fact, considered a 'dinosaur' in programming parlance). That being said, yes you can buy them new if you were so inclined.

    10. Re:Here's An Idea ... by Tromad · · Score: 1

      Thanks! but I live in the US. Customs+shipping would probably equal the cost of a brand new cheap Dell. I should probably just hit thrift stores, although they never advertise specs.

    11. Re:Here's An Idea ... by aliquis · · Score: 1

      P4? Because they have one/it was free?

      286? Beats me, maybe to run some old game which doesn't run well on modern hardware.

      386? Beats me.

      C64? To get the genuine experience without needing to use an emulator on something modern?

      With things like the C64 and the Amiga (or old Apple machines or NES or ..) I guess it's not just the software doing it. One want to feel, hear, see and maybe smell the real deal =P

      Why get a real painting when you can get a copy? =P

    12. Re:Here's An Idea ... by pentalive · · Score: 2, Informative
    13. Re:Here's An Idea ... by jamesh · · Score: 1

      But then you'd be deprived of your joke

      Are you sure? I assumed that the joke was that he was posting the ad on Slashdot because he didn't like Craigslist because anyone can post anything there (unlike Slashdot, where anyone can also post anything there too).

      But then I guess it's not funny if you have to explain it.

    14. Re:Here's An Idea ... by ooshna · · Score: 1, Redundant

      I would have put them on Craig's List but I don't trust a web site where they let just anybody post things.

      So I take it you never heard of our Anonymous Cowards

    15. Re:Here's An Idea ... by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      P4s? Pah, new kid on the block. Here, have a 6502. Only $6!

    16. Re:Here's An Idea ... by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      You could probably write an emulator for the hardware a lot easier than you could rewrite all the software that runs on this thing

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    17. Re:Here's An Idea ... by aliquis · · Score: 1

      So I assumed :D

      I put it together for 100 SEK since I remembered the good old days of Warcraft II and even more so Command & Conquer which I wanted to be able to play in LAN. But well, I can honestly say I never did (some wc2.)

      Too bad :/

      I think it had 2 72 pin and 8 30 pin sockets for memory, hence 40 MB :D

      Two diskdrives and four harddrives? Same reason, it was possible so why not =P

    18. Re:Here's An Idea ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know this was modded funny, but my most reliable server is a PIII-550 w/ a 440BX mobo and 768MB of ram. Runs Win2.3K Active Directory now, yes it's slow but it NEVER dies. Kind of like the mars rovers, I'm not willing to pull the plug just yet. But if the secret service needs it, I'll sacrifice for my country...

    19. Re:Here's An Idea ... by Runaway1956 · · Score: 2, Funny

      We're on slashdot, right? Emulators? Think about it. We should take a poll to see how many members keep an emulated woman in their bottom dresser drawer, under the socks, where they don't think Mommy will find it. I hear that some people actually prefer fake over real.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    20. Re:Here's An Idea ... by Pentium100 · · Score: 1

      Slowpoke.

      My most reliable server is 3x Intel P3 Xeon 700MHz (and one empty slot) and 3GB (16GB max) PC100 RAM. It has triple redundant power supplies and 4 hard drives. It runs Win2k3 AD (backup DC), uTorrent and VmWare Server with two VMs running - Win2k3 and Win7 (so I can see the UI if I need to walk someone trough some settings, the UI is a bit different from XP version; also to try to make Win7 look like Win2k). It has enough speed for now, if it gets too slow, I can add one more CPU.

    21. Re:Here's An Idea ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As if government ever had financial problems to begin with. We spend billions upon billions of dollars on the "War on Terror", I'm pretty sure they can get a few mil earmarked for a mainframe upgrade. AND a rewrite.

    22. Re:Here's An Idea ... by Khyber · · Score: 1

      AC isn't lying, I'll back it up. Even if you wrote your stuff on an old System32, you can run it on most any IBM machine today.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    23. Re:Here's An Idea ... by socsoc · · Score: 1

      There's bargains to be had though. I'm about to sound like a homeless hippie, but get to know some of the staff and they'll give you a heads up on electronics they get. I randomly saw a little Jetdirect EX for $5 and picked it up for a friend (turns out it was never used). It was only $5, so I donated $10 at checkout. The lady wanted my info to let me know about their incoming electronics because it's such a niche market. Better time spent calling a few people who may want it rather than having it sit for a few months before being thrown away because nobody knew what it was nor wanted it.

    24. Re:Here's An Idea ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      omgwtfbbbqlollercopterface!

    25. Re:Here's An Idea ... by fm6 · · Score: 1

      Good point. I think even the oldest IBM mainframes are still around in emulator form.

    26. Re:Here's An Idea ... by fm6 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Should have RTFA. If we're talking an IBM mainframe, then you're certainly right. I cut my programming teeth on those 40 years ago (and haven't been near one in 35), and the basic architecure is still around, though many details have changed. In fact, I've long been convinced that this kind of need for backward compatibility is the only reason people still buy mainframes. Though there are those who are convinced they're fundamentally kewler.

      The problem is probably as much political as bureaucratic, if not more so. An upgrade of this magnitude is when you hear "soo-ee! soo-ee!" echoing through the halls of Congress.

    27. Re:Here's An Idea ... by fm6 · · Score: 1

      Of course I got modded down, but it doesn't matter. Virtue is its own reward!

    28. Re:Here's An Idea ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Michigan State University is running the same financial system code on IBM mainframes from 40 years ago. They keep spending $megabucks buying new ones every few years...

    29. Re:Here's An Idea ... by jbohumil · · Score: 1

      They may not have the source code anymore if it's that old. Modern mainframes have continued to evolve and a recompile might be necessary. It's actually not that hard to believe that the source code might be missing, in that era the source code was usually punched out on cards which had to be physically maintained in boxes which could easily be lost.

    30. Re:Here's An Idea ... by mirix · · Score: 1

      440BX was a brick shithouse of a chipset.

      --
      Sent from my PDP-11
    31. Re:Here's An Idea ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's probably an emulator for it and it will most likely run on an Intel box. IBM seems to either have some proprietary solution or an Intel box made specifically for it but last I was around old metal they would only lease it and the box was made a tad difficult to open without keys and tools.

    32. Re:Here's An Idea ... by rusl · · Score: 1

      I got a 386 for you, inside is a 120mb HDD with ~$600 price sticker on it!

      --
      Stupidity is its own reward.
    33. Re:Here's An Idea ... by Doctor+Memory · · Score: 1

      Doesn't matter. You won't get as much of a speed advantage, and you might not be able to take advantage of newer capabilities, but the code will still run. AIUI, you simply generate a system image for whatever hardware you want, and VM loads and runs it, translating stuff on the fly.

      And, as a lot of people found out during Y2K, if your system's had any binary patches applied, even if you have the source, you don't have the source.

      --
      Just junk food for thought...
    34. Re:Here's An Idea ... by wwphx · · Score: 1

      But there is a technical problem. As old as their system is, guaranteed it's poorly architected by today's standards. Yes, you could directly port everything from their old POS to a new ub3r system, but it would be horrible and clunky to work with. Properly renormalize it into a new DB2 system, and you could have something very slick.

      Case in point: our mainframe is in the process of being retired. There is an application using a single file, said file contains over 1,000 fields per record. When I originally spec'd it to convert to SQL Server, I broke it down into 8 or 9 tables as I'd been told that it was going to be a query-only system. When it turned out that the system was actually live, it was refactored into 30 or so tables. And this is just one Cobol app: I never saw the specs for all the other apps on this box.

      There is no way that original system is properly normalized. It needs a total reengineering performed. You could port it directly as a temporary basis, but it needs an overhaul.

      --
      When you sympathize with stupidity, you start thinking like an idiot.
    35. Re:Here's An Idea ... by wwphx · · Score: 1

      You could reverse it and produce new source. It would be ugly, with system-generated variable names and no comments, but it would be readable and you could understand the logic.

      --
      When you sympathize with stupidity, you start thinking like an idiot.
  4. fully operational doesn't mean what it sounds like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Mainframes of yore had a hell of a lot of moving parts: a large system might have dozens of tape drives and disk drives. Tape drives in particular broke down all the time and were taken offline until the maintenance guy came for his weekly or monthly visit and tightened the belts or whatever the hell they did. Knuth remarked on that situation in his magnum opus TAOCP vol 3 on sorting and searching. In the part about sorting with tape drives, he remarked that he'd never seen a large computer installation where all the tape drives were working. You'd have a computer with ten tape drives, two of them would be down pending repairs, and you'd use the other eight. In other words your computer was operational but not FULLY operational.

    There is a similar situation in today's data centers. Even at the wimpy little shop I worked in last year (about 2000 computers) some were always down. We were doing pretty good if the number down at any moment was less than a few dozen. I don't think we ever had a single day of being fully operational (every single computer up at the same time). That was fine, it wasn't a requirement, it was a distributed system and the data and functions were all sufficiently replicated that we kept running, by design, even with parts of the system unavailable.

  5. The conspiracy runs deeper than that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The even more shocking reality is that there is no secret service IBM mainframe, only a non-working mock up on a sound stage. The actual performance reliability rating is 0%. And over the years a series of system administrators have been been hired only to die in mysterious bullet-related circumstances.

  6. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    so underbid on the contract...

  7. They are just going after some impressive numbers by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 1

    I mean why settle for five nines when you can have... NINE FIVES! :D

  8. Two Satans by bathmatt · · Score: 1

    Wow, 6 sixes, that is like running at two satans... That's a lot

    1. Re:Two Satans by Kryptonian+Jor-El · · Score: 1

      Can you convert that into a more familiar unit, like Library of Congresses?

      --
      All your 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 are belong to us
    2. Re:Two Satans by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Can you convert that into a more familiar unit, like Library of Congresses?

      You know the Library of Congresses is a pretty reliable machine. Does anybody know what its downtime is?

    3. Re:Two Satans by kitezh · · Score: 5, Funny

      Can you convert that into a more familiar unit, like Library of Congresses?

      You know the Library of Congresses is a pretty reliable machine. Does anybody know what its downtime is?

      The downtime for the Library of Congress is 4:30 pm - 8:30 am, Monday - Friday, and all day Sunday. That translates into an uptime of about 28.6%. If you take the Secret Service 68% as uptime, then it would be 2.4 Library of Congresses.

    4. Re:Two Satans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, if you're a fundie, 2 Satans = 2 LoC - 2 Bibles.

      Other denominations may vary.

    5. Re:Two Satans by a_ghostwheel · · Score: 1

      You've failed to account for days when US government is unexpectedly closed (e.g. any sign of snow in the D.C. area) - Library of Congress would be closed on such days too. So actual answer is probably a bit higher than 2.4

    6. Re:Two Satans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      That's not downtime - that's no public access time. During the night is when the Library of Congress gets the most work done by magically book elves and their brethern the dust dwarves.

    7. Re:Two Satans by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 1

      Yes but the LOC is a lot older than those Secret Service computers.

    8. Re:Two Satans by zippthorne · · Score: 1

      Ah, but what's the un scheduled downtime?

      The scheduled downtime is there to take advantage of certain resources. Namely people who want to work when the sun is out, but don't actually care if they see the sun or not.

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
    9. Re:Two Satans by socsoc · · Score: 1

      That would be funny if your reference used the link that you referenced. Is there a Saturday in your estimate? What about holidays?

    10. Re:Two Satans by moosesocks · · Score: 1

      Oh, for Christ sake.... will you people stop bashing DC for the snow debacle. The amount of snow that fell shattered every snowfall-related record in the books.

      Criticizing DC for being unprepared for 40"+ inches of snow is akin to criticizing Chicago for being unprepared for an earthquake. I've spent most of my life up north in snowier climates, and can say with a high degree of certainty that both storms would have still been major events up there.

      --
      -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
    11. Re:Two Satans by moosesocks · · Score: 1

      Wow. Sounds like they could really use a RAIL array....

      --
      -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
  9. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    certainly, the moral thing when no taxpayer money needs to be spend is to take it anyway?

  10. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Greyfox · · Score: 3, Funny

    They'll probably contract it out to EDS and spend 3 billion dollars on Citrix licenses.

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  11. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by cosm · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    If this is this case, the good senator shall hereon be known as Joe Libermanbearpig, in honor of the late ManBearPig of Al Gore mythology.

    --
    'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
  12. Color me skeptical by belthize · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There's something about this whole thing that simply doesn't ring true. I believe parts, I believe they have a 1980's main frame, I believe it's not terribly reliable but something about the whole: leaked memo according to Joe Leiberman, we need more money, they won't give us more money' spiel sounds off. I suspect they have huge chunks of computing that's much newer and reliable, I'd be shocked if that IBM serves any significant purpose.

    If nothing else I predict a large percentage of the umpteen million dollar final cost somehow going to Connecticut, but I'm probably just incredibly jaded.

    1. Re:Color me skeptical by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jade n.
        1. A shade of green.
        2. The color of people who fully understand the American political system.

    2. Re:Color me skeptical by MoeDumb · · Score: 0

      "Curiously, upgrades to the Service's computers are being championed by Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut..." Not so curious. Former Democrat Lieberman is pretty much on target when it comes to rectifying America's security vulnerabilities. Let's face it, for vital security agencies to be laboring along with creaky 1980's mainframes when you and I have the 80's equivalent of supercomputers in our desk- or laptops is disconcerting to say the least. In this day of t-t-t-Trillion dollar D.C. spending sprees I wish more congress critters were as clued in as old Joe is.

      --
      Mod Me Up. You'll make a grown man cry.
    3. Re:Color me skeptical by Rogerborg · · Score: 1

      It's Lieberman (really, it is). If he told you that the sky was blue, you should go outside to double check.

      Don't be so quick to assume that it's just pork for Connecticut - Holy Joe may have some Israeli contractors ready to no-bid.

      --
      If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  13. 1980's mainframe? by markass530 · · Score: 1

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't one small consumer grade server have the same power? Isn't this an easy fix?

    1. Re:1980's mainframe? by John+Hasler · · Score: 1

      > Isn't this an easy fix?

      And you'll port their software for them at no charge?

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    2. Re:1980's mainframe? by Z_A_Commando · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If the only thing keeping them from upgrading was a "small consumer grade server" I'm pretty sure the NSA would have made one fall off the back of a truck and this would no longer be a problem.

      The problem is more likely that the software running on the server is proprietary and closed-source, making upgrades incredibly expensive. Far more expensive than the incremental upgrades that the system should have seen in the 20+ years that it's been in production.

    3. Re:1980's mainframe? by mr_mischief · · Score: 1

      Sure, get the custom-programmed code that requires the input and output of a mainframe rewritten to a $1000 server. The cost should only be a few million. That'd only buy a few new IBM mainframes that would run the existing code faster and more reliably than the old mainframe without any code changes.

    4. Re:1980's mainframe? by markass530 · · Score: 1

      Nah, just direct them towards some OTS Software that would do the same thing, probably easier.

    5. Re:1980's mainframe? by mikefocke · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Don't ever underestimate the difficulty of porting specialized applications

      One Government agency I know of was informed with 5 years advance notice that their long time mainframe computer manufacturer would no longer be in the hardware business nor support the operating system. The Govt let a huge contract to port the applications. After several years, and millions spent in progress payments, that conversion attempt failed. So did several more. So after 10 years and about 4 attempts at conversions using some of the biggest software contract houses in the country they were still running on the original hardware and software and buying used equipment for backup. One of the few in the world.

      It got done eventually I suppose.

      Why, you ask, was it such a task to convert? Because they were attempting to replace something that had been custom built on top of and inside an operating system over perhaps 20 years. Distributed database and multiple geographic locations processing bits of the data using computers from multiple manufacturers communicating together long before the Internet (not that you could have put that kind of data on the net). So in order to convert, it took an understanding of how the whole thing worked and those that had that level of understanding had long since retired. It wasn't Cobol that was the problem but human limitations.

    6. Re:1980's mainframe? by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The traffic signal system called SCATS was like that. It was hand assembled in PDP 11 machine code. There was business logic built into device drivers to get around executable image size issues. The people who wrote (more like built) it knew it inside out. They were just lucky to get it ported before those guys retired.

    7. Re:1980's mainframe? by John+Hasler · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Ah. So you will just port all their data from their old proprietary database system to a new proprietary database. Piece of cake.

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    8. Re:1980's mainframe? by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Ah. So you will just port all their data from their old proprietary database system to a new proprietary database. Piece of cake.

      You would need a security clearance for starters. Then the software would have to be developed to US Federal/Military standards. Maybe that requires CMMI-5 these days. So there's certification of the development processes, auditing and QA.

      I think we are talking 100E6 USD before any code is actually written.

    9. Re:1980's mainframe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't ever underestimate the difficulty of porting specialized applications

      I guess moving to a new system architecture or rewriting the whole software is just gonna be way too costly.
      Just replacing with a new generation Mainframe (z-series) would do the job in a fraction of $187M being quoted.

    10. Re:1980's mainframe? by Princeofcups · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It wasn't Cobol that was the problem but human limitations.

      More likely it was the project itself, that is, replacing a pointlessly complicated system with an updated version of the same. If they sat down and looked at the real core requirements, instead of recoding a monster, they could have designed a simpler and better system for a fraction of the cost. I bet there were huge teams of designers and project managers who got rich off of each of those attempts.

      --
      The only thing worse than a Democrat is a Republican.
    11. Re:1980's mainframe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Part of the problem is the "4 attempts" at conversion. In other words, each time the engineers were getting to the meat of the problem, the project was cancelled by some politician or mba. Then, after everyone who worked on the project was gone, another "attempt" was funded because it turned out that the system was important, only to suffer the same fate of being cancelled because of "cost overruns" or other evidence that the problem was actually hard.

      Repeat two more times, cancelling part way through. America is in the mba era, where everything hard gets cancelled part way through, because the difficulties of engineering don't fit into the "business model."

  14. Hokey Illustration by John+Hasler · · Score: 1

    1980's mainframes did not use reel-to-reel tape. They used tape cartridges, often managed by automatic tape libraries.

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    1. Re:Hokey Illustration by belthize · · Score: 1

      The picture looks an awful lot like late 60's drives for an IBM 360 model 44.

      I guess they needed a picture that screamed 'main frame'.

    2. Re:Hokey Illustration by Jeremy+Erwin · · Score: 1

      TG Daily claims that the Secret Service uses a IBM 704

    3. Re:Hokey Illustration by Eric+Smith · · Score: 2, Informative

      Plenty of nine-track tape was still in use on mainframes in the 1980s.

    4. Re:Hokey Illustration by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

      Plenty of nine-track tape was still in use on mainframes in the 1980s.

      Yes, I did backups at work on 9 track well into the 1990s. Admittedly we were late for an upgrade then. The coating used to come off on the heads on the old tapes. Cleaning was a chore.

      At my current job I rescued an old 9 track tape which was going to be left behind for the cleaners when we moved offices. Its at my desk right now. Maybe somebody will come looking for it one day.

    5. Re:Hokey Illustration by russotto · · Score: 1

      1980's mainframes did not use reel-to-reel tape. They used tape cartridges, often managed by automatic tape libraries.

      Nine track drives like that were still in use the 1980s. Into the 1990s, even.

  15. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1
    if you know someone is going to get shot, is it moral to jump in front of the bullet? what about if it's just a punch?

    i was talking about minimizing the money taken after corruption has already decided it wants a specific task accomplished that someone will certainly be paid money that doesn't need to be spent to give them.

    i suppose you believe the moral thing to do in that case is overthrow the government?

  16. Misleading photo by Jeremy+Erwin · · Score: 4, Informative

    The story uses a stock photo captioned "Obsolete mainframe super computers in [Computer History] museum". I don't think the Secret Service uses IBM 2401 magnetic tape units

  17. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    So by your logic, someone should take much less money and then do what? If the contract is for 100,000,000 for example, you underbid and take 50,000,000 and if that's definitely not enough, then what?

    i suppose you believe the moral thing to do in that case is overthrow the government?

    - oh, the government that US has right now is a failed institution. Should it be overthrown? Definitely. By voting. However if the people just keep voting in the same people, well, they deserve it then, don't they?

    Lucky for me I am not a US citizen and I never lived there, so it's really a question that US citizens should ask themselves.

  18. Re:They are just going after some impressive numbe by Firehawke · · Score: 1

    Nine fives? I think they just work nine TO five!

  19. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We'll never get tired of voting you down. Right now I'm waiting for your next post so I can knock it down too. Batter up!

  20. dis-information. by 3seas · · Score: 1

    what more is there to be said aboutit?

  21. Security by Venerability by gmuslera · · Score: 4, Funny

    At last a computer that can be safe even in a cyberwar, no modern hacker would be able to enter there, or at least, do anything dangerous. Even the Morris worm would scream and run facing that technology. Leave that multivac running enough time and will eventually make light.

    1. Re:Security by Venerability by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't care to bet on that. The Secret Service has a history of being far, far behind the times with both equipment and policy: take a look at their old "Operation Sundevil" raid on Steve Jackson Games, where they believed that a role-play game called "Cyberwar" was a guide to cybercrime. Given their lack of progress in dealing with modern wire fraud, which is one of their main jobs, there is no reason to assume they are competent enough to have patched vulnerabilities known for decades.

  22. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    did you not being a US citizen influence your decision to bring my morals into question?

    UNDERbid. ZERO is under ANY bid. do it for free. is that moral? do they do things for free to help the common good in your country?

    what if the voting system itself is just as failed as the institution that implemented it?

    lucky for us US citizens that you are safely on some other soil.

  23. SS? SS!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Oh sorry, you mean Secret Service. I keep thinking Schutzstaffel.

    1. Re:SS? SS!? by chill · · Score: 1

      Understandable. IBM dealt with them, too. Oh, and they had contacts in the Bush family as well. I believe W's grand daddy knew a few.

      --
      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  24. Not curious at all by stimpleton · · Score: 1

    Curiously, upgrades to the Service's computers are being championed by Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut

    Its not curious. Don't confuse his desire to censor, restrict, or otherwise hinder the people's access to free information(the internet).

    Doesn't mean he won't allow every resource into that same tech if security/administration needs it...especially if it achieves the former.

    --

    In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
  25. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    Underbid someone at 0 dollars for a contract and deliver what with that 0?

    Lucky for US I am not it's citizen? As far as I am concerned - lucky for me.

    what if the voting system itself is just as failed as the institution that implemented it?

    - voting system will remain a failure as long as the people who vote do not care about understanding what they vote on. A system that implements voting in the first place is better than a system that has no voting at all, so there must have been something there in the beginning, but obviously over time money became the deciding factor for winning almost any vote, that's the failure.

  26. Connecticut already gets billions by SuperBanana · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If nothing else I predict a large percentage of the umpteen million dollar final cost somehow going to Connecticut, but I'm probably just incredibly jaded.

    What's a few million? Connecticut is one of the top haulers, thanks to Electric Boat, where many nuclear subs (and a number of other ships) are made.

    Every time the Pentagon tries to cut its budget, congrescritters get all up in arms about "jobs", so the Pentagon has all these useless projects (congress forces the programs it wants.) It's the primary reason US military spending has risen so sharply over the years.

    1. Re:Connecticut already gets billions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shhh, stop talking like that. You know that the only reason the military has a large amount of funding is because we're an evil white male imperialist evil secret military dictatorship.

    2. Re:Connecticut already gets billions by jbengt · · Score: 1
      SuperBanana said:

      Every time the Pentagon tries to cut its budget, congrescritters get all up in arms about "jobs", so the Pentagon has all these useless projects. . . It's the primary reason US military spending has risen so sharply over the years.

      AC replied:

      Shhh, stop talking like that. You know that the only reason the military has a large amount of funding is because we're an evil white male imperialist evil secret military dictatorship.

      I fail to see the conflict between the two statements

  27. Pish, Overachievers.... by Matey-O · · Score: 1

    That's better than our goal of Nine 5's...up a little over half the time!

    --
    "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
  28. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    but obviously over time money became the deciding factor for winning almost any vote, that's the failure.

    are you sure it's never the rigged/hackable/unverifiable voting machines? or are you implying they only exist because money became available to mandate them?

  29. I gots one to spare by WinstonWolfIT · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Sounds like they could have my spare dual core desktop and it would be an improvement.

    1. Re:I gots one to spare by WinstonWolfIT · · Score: 0

      Redundant my bloody ass there wasn't one other post that talked about giving them a consumer class low end computer.

  30. 90%? by hedronist · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you are only getting 90% from any OS you really should be shopping for a new OS. I've got flaky machines in my garage running Linux that regularly are up for 6 months or more at a time, and that includes dodgy power in my area.

    1. Re:90%? by smash · · Score: 1

      If you're only getting 90% uptime from any of the common OSes you should be shopping for a new admin and/or new hardware as appropriate. 90% is 2.4 hrs of downtime per day. Even windows can do better than that, by a few orders of magnitude - quite easily.

      --
      I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
  31. Obligatory by nten · · Score: 1

    That is silly, it would quickly discover the only way to win is not to play.

    --
    refactor the law, its bloated, confusing and unmaintainable.
  32. $187 million? by RightSaidFred99 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They're claiming it will cost $187 million to replace. Bullshit. If the hardware is more than 15 years old, which it sounds like it is, it's impossible to conceive how they could spend more than $100k on hardware to replace it and still give 100x the performance and capacity. OK, let's splurge - spend 5 million on hardware.

    These jackoffs would have us believe it's going to cost $180 million to replace some bullshit law enforcement database software that's 20 years old? Complete bullshit. Instead of the mythical $500 government hammer, now we've got the $180 million dollar software package that should cost

    1. Re:$187 million? by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

      These jackoffs would have us believe it's going to cost $180 million to replace some bullshit law enforcement database software that's 20 years old?

      We don't know what that software does. Thats why its called the Secret Service. My guess is that nothing will be delivered for less than 300 million USD. And yeah I do work on large civil/military projects, though on the European side.

    2. Re:$187 million? by lordmetroid · · Score: 1

      But it is a very good hammer you see. Guaranteed to work you see. You need these very splendid and unfortunately expensive hammers in order to wash some money you see...

    3. Re:$187 million? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      250k per machine plus backups plus storage plus facility upgrade, software and 30 years of high priority maintenance plus support both for the machine and the software? Of course, assuming their "operational requirements" never change. I have no idea of the true cost, but it might be rather high. They are probably stating their budget over something like a 30 year period. That's a lifetime of a building, actually.

    4. Re:$187 million? by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 1

      Don't forget labor costs. Someone has to port that old old old code nobody understands anymore.

    5. Re:$187 million? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You should try selling Linux for the European civil/military projects as only the kernel was evaluated as costing 0,4 billion euros by the Spanish. See if the accountants of the EU Commission will notice if you slip your 0,4 Giga EUR bill as a part of a bigger project. It will probably slip under general expenses label just fine.

    6. Re:$187 million? by Deanalator · · Score: 1

      Because they would spend 37k on hardware and hire 100 contractors at 1m/year to port everything over.

    7. Re:$187 million? by ralphdaugherty · · Score: 2, Interesting

      These jackoffs would have us believe it's going to cost $180 million to replace some bullshit law enforcement database software that's 20 years old?

            The rated you funny, but it's true. FBI CASE system also vintage 1980's mainframe system. They have tried and failed twice to rewrite 20 year old law enforcement database software at over half a billion spent so far. First time they said they didn't even have anything salvageable to show for it and threw out the entire project which aos happened to be around that magic number of $180 million. (These are mind boggling numbers. The beltway bandits and their bureaucrat sponsors are capable of sinking unfathomable amounts of money into failed software projects.)

            As has been noted in previous posts, newer IBM hardware runs the older software, so it shouldn't be ancient hardware falling apart as is implied here. I haven't read TFA to see if there's any detail behind what exactly is failing 1/3 of the time because generally there's no detail and what there is I mostly don't believe.

            People blame the government bureaucrats, but the failed work is done by the huge consulting companies. They can blame the specs but the failures are for nearly every major software system for the last 20 years, several multiple time failures, and several still not replaced or working.

            This sounds to me like the bureaucrats are raising the level of lying in a competition for what's the most desperate government software system needing replaced.

        rd

    8. Re:$187 million? by AliasMarlowe · · Score: 1

      Don't forget labor costs.

      Labor with sufficient security clearance, proper technical certification, and adequate competence. It might be a "pick any two" situation...

      --
      Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
    9. Re:$187 million? by DingerX · · Score: 1

      Okay, let's do the numbers (in millions) NSA consultancy to determine the need for new hardware: $7 External auditors of NSA consultancy: $3 Environmental impact study: $5 Feasibility study: $2 Legislative Task Force (aka "Marketing"): $10 Publication and administration of call for outside bids: $5 Hardware: $.1 Comprehensive installation and migration package: $10 Ten years support: $20 Audit of tender and winning bid: $5 Annual support audits: $5 Verification and Validation (Internal): $3 V&V (external): $7 Facilities for hardware, ten years: $30 Legal Fees: $20 Overhead: $55 Total: $187.1 million

    10. Re:$187 million? by dzfoo · · Score: 1

      >> People blame the government bureaucrats, but the failed work is done by the huge consulting companies.

      Billions of dollars sunk into failed projects, and yet the government bureaucrats keep hiring these consulting companies for software work. Therefore they share a large part of the blame: at the least it shows incompetence and negligence, at worse it implies collusion and fraud.

              -dZ.

      --
      Carol vs. Ghost
      ...Can you save Christmas?
    11. Re:$187 million? by ErikZ · · Score: 1

      Mainframes cost a lot more than 100k, usually a few million.

      --
      Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
    12. Re:$187 million? by evilviper · · Score: 1

      As has been noted in previous posts, newer IBM hardware runs the older software, so it shouldn't be ancient hardware falling apart as is implied here.

      If you think it's that simple, you've never had to use it...

      There's something like 10 different levels of issues with running old programs on a newer mainframe.

      The old OS may not run on a newer mainframe. Perhaps because of devices that weren't available a half century ago, or what-not.

      Even if IBM was so nice as to add that support to a slightly newer version of the same (old) OS, it doesn't guarantee that it won't have been changed enough that your old, very low-level programs just don't quite run right.

      And even if they do, we're talking about the days when the simplest changes to an application typically require recompiling a binary.

      The compiler originally used may be available for the newer system, but have a few subtle differences that make it not quite work.

      A just-slightly-newer compiler may be the only thing available, and it will have changed significantly enough to ensure several of your old programs won't compile.

      And don't dare mention IBM support. They're HEAVILY geared towards newer equipment. They don't have top-experts in each and every version of each and every bit of obsolete software just lying around, waiting for you to call.

      Now, maybe if the government threw enough money at IBM, they might perform better, but I have a hard time seeing it even then. We certainly pay them several times more than the combined salaries of the handful of mainframe experts in the company, all for the one problem that crops up every 5 years, and all the support we ever get is: "Try a newer version. No good? Well feature X was depreciated when this program was written 40 years ago, and is now unsupported."

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    13. Re:$187 million? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The $187 M probably covers more than the hardware costs. Upgrading any system let alone a 20 year old system is not as simple as replacing hardware and software. I would also assume that they are also looking to enhance the system. This means architects, developers , testers and support personnel. Oh, and all those personnel require security costs which drive the costs up.

      As far as the $500 gov. hammer comment. Quit the government bashing. Most of the government projects are outsourced to large consulting corps that are well respected and have both private and govt. clients. If you think private industry would run things better, I have worked for large retail, banking and government consulting companies. I can confirm that private industry also has double and triple digit million projects that often result in failure. Yes, large companies often absorb double and triple million digit projects without an impact to their stock price.

    14. Re:$187 million? by ralphdaugherty · · Score: 1

      Billions of dollars sunk into failed projects, and yet the government bureaucrats keep hiring these consulting companies for software work. Therefore they share a large part of the blame: at the least it shows incompetence and negligence, at worse it implies collusion and fraud.

            Yes, although I know that both parties really would like a successful project. But there is no penalty for failure, and they keep sinking billions into failed software projects with the same giant consultig companies, so it is nothing short of collusion and fraud.

        rd

    15. Re:$187 million? by ralphdaugherty · · Score: 1

      If you think it's that simple, you've never had to use it...

            I've been on some of the largest IBM AS/400's running multi-billion dollar companies for twenty years, but not mainframes. However the largest AS/400 ranks with largest mainframes.

      There's something like 10 different levels of issues with running old programs on a newer mainframe.

      The old OS may not run on a newer mainframe. Perhaps because of devices that weren't available a half century ago, or what-not.

            Binaries of everything written in last 40 years still runs on current AS/400 iseries, up to newest OS 6.1, where a recompile would be necessary for older programs. I've seen lots in technical press that implies twenty year old mainframe binaries running on newer mainframes, for example IBM CASE system. Perhaps the new mainframes purchased couldn't run the old software after all, if you know that as a fact.

      Even if IBM was so nice as to add that support to a slightly newer version of the same (old) OS, it doesn't guarantee that it won't have been changed enough that your old, very low-level programs just don't quite run right.

      Not slightly newer, it would have to be currently supported OS versions.

      And even if they do, we're talking about the days when the simplest changes to an application typically require recompiling a binary.

      Are you a mainframe veteran? OS/400 software has never needed a recompile, even when the AS/400 went from 48 bit CISC to 64 bit RISC in mid nineties.

      The compiler originally used may be available for the newer system, but have a few subtle differences that make it not quite work.

      You don't sound like an IBM mainframe veteran.

      A just-slightly-newer compiler may be the only thing available, and it will have changed significantly enough to ensure several of your old programs won't compile.

      My understanding of things like the IBM CASE system is that the compilers for some of the language used for the code is no longer available, but if available, IBM compilers of different levels are not rewritten and slightly different.

      And don't dare mention IBM support. They're HEAVILY geared towards newer equipment. They don't have top-experts in each and every version of each and every bit of obsolete software just lying around, waiting for you to call.

      No truer words ever spoken.

      Now, maybe if the government threw enough money at IBM, they might perform better, but I have a hard time seeing it even then. We certainly pay them several times more than the combined salaries of the handful of mainframe experts in the company, all for the one problem that crops up every 5 years, and all the support we ever get is: "Try a newer version. No good? Well feature X was depreciated when this program was written 40 years ago, and is now unsupported."

      The government has thrown boatloads of money at IBM in desperate attempts to keep ancient systems working. Even with that, IBM more than once has responded that they don't have anyone anymore that knows anything about it. Whether that's playing hardball or not, it's probably true. They could get the expertise from retirees if needed though, so more in the realm of F-U hardball in my opinion.

        rd

    16. Re:$187 million? by evilviper · · Score: 1

      Binaries of everything written in last 40 years still runs on current AS/400 iseries

      Yes, the hardware is compatible. I guess if you're lucky enough not to have to support software written with some already-depreciated call to the underlying OS, you'll not have seen the worst of it...

      You don't sound like an IBM mainframe veteran.

      No, I'm a sysadmin. I'm not sure how I ever ended up working with the mainframe programmers on their problems, but I did, and still do as required.

      OS/400 software has never needed a recompile, even when the AS/400 went from 48 bit CISC to 64 bit RISC in mid nineties.

      I'm talking about hard-coded values in (very old) applications... before config files for all possible values became common practice.

      but if available, IBM compilers of different levels are not rewritten and slightly different.

      I can assure you, we've had to deal with multiple cases where just a minor version step of an IBM mainframe compiler resulted in failing code, requiring a rewrite using alternate methods. Waiting a week for someone in Australia to get back to us (only to find they weren't versed in anything nearly this old, and were even more stumped than us) wasn't too pleasant.

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    17. Re:$187 million? by ralphdaugherty · · Score: 1

      I can assure you, we've had to deal with multiple cases where just a minor version step of an IBM mainframe compiler resulted in failing code, requiring a rewrite using alternate methods.

            Interesting. Thanks for the info.

        rd

  33. Sampling bias by nten · · Score: 4, Informative

    Doesn't this constitute a sampling bias? (from netcraft)

    Why do you not report uptimes for Linux 2.6 or FreeBSD 6 ?

    We only report uptimes for systems where the operating system's timer runs at 100Hz or less. Because the TCP code only uses the low 32 bits of the timer, if the timer runs at say 1000Hz, the value wraps around every 49.7 days (whereas at 100Hz it wraps after 497 days). As there are large numbers of systems which have a higher uptime than this, it is not possible to report accurate uptimes for these systems.

    The Linux kernel switched to a higher internal timer rate at kernel version 2.5.26. Linux 2.4 used a rate of 100Hz. Linux 2.6 used a timer at 1000Hz (some architectures were using 1000Hz before this), until the default was changed back to 250Hz in May 2006. (An explanation of the HZ setting in Linux.)

    FreeBSD versions 4 and 5 used a 100Hz timer, but FreeBSD 6 has moved to a customisable timer with a default setting of 1000Hz.

    So unfortunately this means that we cannot give reliable uptime figures for many Linux and FreeBSD servers.

    --
    refactor the law, its bloated, confusing and unmaintainable.
    1. Re:Sampling bias by timmarhy · · Score: 0, Troll

      that's correct, but it still illustrates my point that windows server is capable of extremely high uptimes. anyone claimnig windows can't do 99.999% is a lier.

      --
      If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
    2. Re:Sampling bias by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 1

      Modded -1 Lier

    3. Re:Sampling bias by socsoc · · Score: 1

      I've only been a liar about being a lier.

    4. Re:Sampling bias by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In basic english for Windows advocates. Netcraft doesn't really list those stats for Linux servers, so of course Windows has the top places. :)

    5. Re:Sampling bias by Mikkeles · · Score: 1

      Out! Out! damned lier.

      --
      Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
  34. Re:Obama = Hitler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Mrs Palin, don't you have more important things to do than troll blogs?

    Oh, I forgot. You don't, do you?

    P.R.

  35. That's normal. by Oxford_Comma_Lover · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The media uses stock photos whenever they don't have real photos of something. This is normal. I've even seen stock photos of Bumble Bee tuna used in contamination stories for another brand. (I forget which one.) Talk about misleading...

    --
    -- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
    1. Re:That's normal. by socsoc · · Score: 1

      I guess it worked though, you can't remember the other "bad "brand. The brand which happened to be an advertiser.

  36. I truly doubt it. by nten · · Score: 1

    Never ascribe to malice or incompetence what can be explained by incompetent malice. I'm proud of myself, that sounded witty, but honestly I'd guess the original system "just worked" and slowly the needs outgrew it so that fewer people could use it at any given time than would like to use it. So slowly that the people who would have to explain the purchase could say "but its not that much worse than last year" instead of filling out enough forms to account for the mass of a sequoia, in order to do the requisition.

    --
    refactor the law, its bloated, confusing and unmaintainable.
    1. Re:I truly doubt it. by ffflala · · Score: 1

      I could understand that it the equipment was peripheral. It certainly could be a case of the story exaggerating the importance of the programs running on this hardware in the interest of a good story. That would fit your assessment.

      But I find it very difficult to imagine that something central to the USSS's mission would be so thoughtlessly neglected and unreliable.

  37. "Curiously"? by DesScorp · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Curiously, upgrades to the Service's computers are being championed by Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut "

    What's curious about that? It's not like the guy is a Luddite or something. The Secret Service, at the forefront of protecting POTUS, is a national security issue, and Lieberman is very involved in those issues. If the author threw that in because he doesn't like Lieberman's politics, then that's kind of lame. One would think that issues like keeping government IT systems up to date would transcend party politics.

    --
    Life is hard, and the world is cruel
    1. Re:"Curiously"? by Zorque · · Score: 1

      They could mean it's curious that Joe Lieberman is doing something that isn't a waste of time.

    2. Re:"Curiously"? by socsoc · · Score: 1

      then that's kind of lame

      No, that's the quality of reporters these days when everyone has a blag, the true folks have forgotten what separated them.

    3. Re:"Curiously"? by zeroduck · · Score: 1

      One would think that issues like keeping government IT systems up to date would transcend party politics.

      I think you have far too much faith in politicians (however little faith you already have). There is not a single issue that politicians wouldn't use to score cheap political points.

  38. reliability != availability by tomp · · Score: 1

    Availability often comes at the cost of reliability.

    If you put 2 drives in a RAID-1 mirror, the odds of a drive failure goes up. After all, you now have twice as many drives that might fail. However, a single drive failure no longer makes the data unavailable.

    RAID-1 lowers reliability with the goal of raising availability. Paying sysadmins to swap drives is way cheaper than paying people to sit around waiting for their critical data to be restored from tape.

    Low reliability is probably just a sign that their systems are highly redundant. Not really surprising.

  39. I call B.S. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    These stories tend to be B.S. ploys in order to get pity funding from Congress for some modernization effort or some other project. The agency I used to work at had similar things said about it, and I can guarantee they were inaccurate, but that funding was received.

  40. Support costs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mainframe support costs are generally ratcheted up as IBM pushes you towards mandatory upgrades. I can only imagine how expensive it is for support on a "1980s era mainframe" with parts that you just can't get anymore.

  41. Law enforcement systems are hard by Animats · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The article is bogus, but the problem is real. Computer support systems for investigators are hard to build. The FBI has struggled with this, taking about a decade to deploy their "Field Office Automation" system. They're hard for many of the same reasons medical systems are hard - much of the incoming data is unstructured, and many people enter data relevant to the same case. It's even harder than in the medical world, because links between various individuals and events are important, but unreliable. The "customers" aren't cooperative, they usually don't have unique identifiers, and a sizable fraction of the information is bogus. The security problems are tough to even define - exactly who's allowed to see what is a big issue.

    The older law enforcement systems didn't offer much searchability. Unless you had a hard search key, like a driver's license number or a full name, you couldn't retrieve much. Now, everybody expects Google-like searchability, and the older systems just didn't have the machinery for that.

    1. Re:Law enforcement systems are hard by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Layers and layers.
      The telco wire tap system is out sourced to telco billing systems outside the USA and needs paper work.
      If you in good with the billing system, you have real time insight into most legal wiretaps in the USA.
      The NSA looks at all packets, but could not talk about its findings.
      What would the Secret Service have? A card system like hyper card.
      One person, one big virtual card, a pic, list of past issues ect.
      Lieberman also got interested in a p2p hunting system to tag p2p shared media with a unique number and your windows MAC, ip, PC details to tag anyone interested in the noted file - operation FairPlay
      http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9920665-7.html
      So long term Lieberman would love to connect all systems.
      A gui to connect your isp, billing details with mobile use, p2p use and any details the US Secret Service has with the NSA.
      To do this he has to upgrade each section of the US telco system and make it legal without having too many people asking too much.
      The best way is to say every department is real bad, slow, old and will get just want it needs to do a great job - the same job.
      The back end is connected and your local NSA/google/DHS Fusion Center in a fly over state starts to log you in real time - all nice and legal.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  42. Re:Obama = Hitler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lamest comeback ever.

    "der.... Sarah Palin.... der...."

    STFU, mmkay?

  43. Re:Obama = Hitler by Evil+Shabazz · · Score: 1

    Offtopic my ass. Pure troll. Disagree with Obama all you want (I do plenty), but only a total ignorant assfuck would believe he is anything like Hitler. In fact, I would say anyone who posts such bullshit is more like Hitler than Obama is. You, sir, are as stupid as Obama's health care plan.

    --
    Down with the career politician! SUPPORT TERM LIMITS
  44. Re:Obama = Hitler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Aww did some body make fun of your wank material?

  45. USSR offices... by garompeta · · Score: 1

    The IT systems lack appropriate bandwidth to run multiple applications to effectively support USSS offices and operational missions around the world

    For a moment I thought it said USSR, and I nodded.
    Funny how the brain works, isn't it?

  46. IBM is the Real Suprise by Required+Snark · · Score: 1
    The real shocker in this story is the IBM connection. Here is a IBM client that has a system without a hardware upgrade in 30 years!!! It's against the laws of nature. IBM wrote the book on installing big iron, and then getting users into an endless cycle of lock in and upgrades. Gates and Intel just copied this model to the i86/Windows franchise.

    Somehow I feel let down. What happened to the classic IBM sales organization that used Fear/Uncertainty/Doubt to coerce their clients into endless expansion and upgrades, needed or not? To make matters worse, it's a Federal system! When other vendors used to bid against IBM for a US government contract, everyone else always started in last place. When other vendors won it seemed like a mistake.

    If IBM can't suck endless amounts of money out of the US government then there is something seriously wrong with America. We've lost our competitive spirit. How the mighty have fallen.

    --
    Why is Snark Required?
    1. Re:IBM is the Real Suprise by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      IBM used to have a "Federal Systems Division." It was their job to knock on US government's door, and say, "Hardware upgrade for you, Sir?" Also, they would do complete packages as system integration projects. IBM sold this division in 1994 to Loral. Loral sold it to Lockheed later on.

      I guess the new owners were not as interested in pushing IBM hardware as the original IBM owners.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    2. Re:IBM is the Real Suprise by mikael · · Score: 1

      For a vendor to get federal supplier status, they have to be willing to support any particular hardware system for as long as the system is used The first effect is that there is no incentive to modernize the system (why bother, it is still being supported). The second effect is that you get all sorts of junk hardware speculators who buy up ancient hardware and store it, simply to sell as a high mark-up components should any system need spare parts.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
  47. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    it has nothing to do with voting machines, it has everything to do with the corporations giving money to candidates from either political party, who are then given to you to vote for. Doesn't matter who you vote in, almost any politician from any side (R/D) is already a tool of the corporations.

    The only right way to go is to vote for the non-establishment people, those who are not yet real politicians, those who have not being bought yet. You have some people like that on both sides: Ron Paul and Alan Grayson come to mind first.

  48. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    Oynk, oynk. Joe Lieberman - the corporatist. Is his wife getting any money from insurance industry? Is he getting money from insurance industry? Yes they do, but obviously that became not enough. Now he also wants to force the secret service to build some ridiculous and most likely not needed IT systems in his state, I am sure, that is the only real reason for any of US politicians to come out with statements like that: we want pork.

    Certainly he will pillage the system some more and then again before he goes away.

    Democrats, Republicans, they are bought long time ago by the corporations. Get rid of them, vote for someone who is not with the establishment, someone who is not bought by the corporations yet.

  49. That's unacceptable by Arancaytar · · Score: 1

    They should make an effort to get at least NINE sixes. Or more.

  50. Why not outsource the whole ball of whacks? by mnemotronic · · Score: 1

    Layoff your data center and software staff. Cancel the contractors & consultants. Get rid of the hardware. Setup a remote data center in India or China. Hire a couple thousand locals to rewrite the legacy apps. You'll be fine.

    Security problem? Loss of jobs?!? In your mind senator.

    --
    The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
  51. How Much?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's only 4,400 agents, buying them all a $1,000 pc each is only $4.4 million. There's about 100 offices, an incredibly decent server for each of them would be about 100k each ($10 mill). So where does the $187 mill come in? And where do I bid for the contract?

    Now I know how companies like EDS take truckloads of cash home...

  52. I can see by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can see an upgrade to WFW3.11 in their future just as soon as we can locate some 80286 machines.

  53. Re:Obama = Hitler by c0mpliant · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Obama = Hitler (as if you need more proof)

    Obama - breathes oxygen
    Hitler - breathed oxygen


    Obama - was born on Earth
    Hitler - was born on Earth


    Obama - will die on Earth
    Hitler - died on Earth


    Obama - drinks water
    Hitler - drank water


    Obama - has an 'a' in his first name
    Hitler - had an 'a' in his first name


    Obama - blood is red
    Hitler - blood was red



    And you know people will try to spin it that all of the above could be said of a large number of people or that we're twisting our facts to suit a point we want to make.....

    --
    There is no -1 disagree
  54. Re:this HAS to be deliberate misinformation by ffflala · · Score: 1

    Why was this modded troll? Honestly, I don't get what's the least bit trollish about it.

  55. I supported hospital systems by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That had 99.9999% uptime. I will do the upgrade for them for just 100 million dollars.

  56. Re:fully operational doesn't mean what it sounds l by azrider · · Score: 1

    Knuth remarked on that situation in his magnum opus TAOCP vol 3 on sorting and searching. In the part about sorting with tape drives, he remarked that he'd never seen a large computer installation where all the tape drives were working. You'd have a computer with ten tape drives, two of them would be down pending repairs, and you'd use the other eight.

    I call bullshit. I maintained large IBM sites for 20 years. I never had 20 percent of my drives down at any time (2401, 2420, 3420, 3480). If you are seeing that sort of service level, change service providers.

    --
    And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
    John 8:32(King James Version)
  57. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1
    so you are defining sides to the political system by labeling one side (R) and one side (D), but not acknowledging that there might also be sides to the methods those sides use to leverage the system?

    let's say a corporation who you are claiming is already willing to use it's assets to gain control of government, also has the ability to control the voting machines... you think that throughout history a corporation in that position has never exploited that ability? you think one never will?

    once the pork contract is defined, underbidding the contractor who the pork was seemingly prepared for, or offering your services for free, is the ONLY short term thing you can do to decrease the affect of the corruption. you can vote for 1000 years and change nothing. you are delusional.

  58. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    First, you brought up the voting machines and you continue with that theme, I don't know why.

    Second, there is a way to stop pork spending and corruption in a very short time, don't need 1000 years, vote out the establishment people and vote in totally new people, who are not corrupted by the system.

  59. Six Sixes? by volpe · · Score: 1

    WTF does "six sixes" mean? Is that anything like "six sigma"?

  60. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    i brought it up because you suggested voting solves all corruption problems. my point was that that doesn't work IF the voting process is also corrupt. i "continue with that theme" because you continue with the theme of your fairy tale land where that would never exist. you don't know why because you are oblivious. SECOND, there is a way to stop pork spending as i pointed out.... UNDERBID THE CONTRACT AND DO THE WORK FOR FREE. of course these are extremes, but so are your sensationalist claims. if pork spending and corruption can be stopped in a very short time as you suggest, then why hasn't it been stopped?

  61. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    Ok, so if your voting process is corrupt to the point that your voting machines record non-existing votes and skip real ones, you have different issues. This may just mean that your government stopped being representative of your people so much, it makes no sense bothering with the voting and then it does warrant violent removal.

    However I don't think in the case of US it is that terrible, yes stories come up one after another about all of the voting problems, but you also have people from various parties as well as independents checking that voting is not rigged but more promising is the mere fact that this information comes out, there is a way to do verification if you stopped using the faulty machines. So is it so difficult to use pen and paper that it would take a 1000 years as you suggested? Many other countries do it that way, you know.

    Underbidding a contract and working for free is not the only way, also it is impossible. One thing is your own time, another altogether the fact that you'd have to produce some results in a reasonable amount of time - can you buy equipment and hire people to do the work for free for you? Besides, if you know that this work is useless in the first place, that would be a gigantic waste of time.

    More productive way is to expose the people in the system for who they are - corrupt corporation whores and in no way your representatives. A more productive way is to form opposition to the establishment and fight it politically by attempting to get elected without being corrupt, at least in this case you would not occupy yourself with a pointless and impossible task, while maybe actually achieving something. You are oblivious to the reality and history - this has been done many times before, it definitely makes more sense that what you are proposing.

    Your last argument: 'if pork spending and corruption can be stopped in a very short time as you suggest, then why hasn't it been stopped?' - this is a good question, but it is not a negation of what I am saying. Pork spending is not stopped because so many people in power push for it, because it is profitable to them so much. I answer this in exactly the same manner: the people in the US are voting for the establishment and not paying attention.

    I do however think, that latest losses of elections by Democrats to republicans are a display of people tired of the same game. People stop coming out to vote for their Democrat candidate because specifically they don't like that after the promise of change it's business as usual. I don't believe that people vote for Republicans more (and my assertion is supported by many polls) so people are becoming very disappointed with who they chose. In this political environment it maybe is becoming a real possibility for someone who is not with the establishment to be elected because they are not with the establishment and they push that button, even though they will not have the kind of money that gets one elected, because they will not have any corporate sponsors at all.

    There is another possibility, which is much faster than waiting 1000 years: reform the process of getting elected, so that the people, who have enough votes will not be allowed to take corporate money and will be provided some campaign money from the government. Millions of dollars spent on campaigns - that's a huge issue, remove this problem and you are on the way to a solution.

  62. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    Ok, so if your voting process is corrupt to the point that your voting machines record non-existing votes and skip real ones, you have different issues.

    ... DING DING DING. didn't read past that. congratulations on realizing your lapse of logic. it looks like you spent some time sorting out that new realization and perhaps trying to justify it.

  63. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    I am not justifying it, I am saying you are mistaken that this is the case in the first place and also that there are ways of fixing the problem without getting into a civil war of some sort as you seem to propose. Cheers anyway, I wish your country the best.

  64. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    you are ATTEMPTING to justify it... i agree that you are failing.

  65. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    Incorrect, I am saying your statement is not the case, of-course at first it seemed that you were failing in reading comprehension, now I think it is simply a case of trolling.

  66. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    so simple that it took you 10 responses to figure it out? either you are wrong or slow... judging by you earlier being wrong, i would first assume are you wrong this time as well... of course you were moderated "flamebait" implying someone thought your motives were in question from the start. i agreed and provided you with a short term solution. you deny the solution, provide an alternate less effective solution that you acknowledge will not remove the problem, yet you continue to argue about the existence of the problem. that is why your comments are flamebait...

  67. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    It's about the money.

    it's about politics. it's about fighting the slippery slope of unemployment. it's about progress.

    perhaps in your next opinion piece you should try avoiding using the word "believe" and "bet" and make up some facts instead.

    it also doesn't help to prove yourself wrong by painting the picture of a world where joe lieberman is alive (the actual real world) and then suggest that it is impossible to even imagine that this world exists.

    you are the worst kind of stupid.

  68. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    You provide no solution, your solution is useless, it can never work for a large project where many people need to be involved and infrastructure has to be provided, and it is a waste of time simply by the virtue of the project being government issued make shift pork generator.

    My solution is real - get rid of the people who are with the establishment and more importantly reform the process not to allow the corporations to take over again by infusing their own resources into the voting process. That in your opinion is less effective than people undercutting a seasoned politician with some corporations behind them who want the contract in their home state? Your 'solution' is amazing in its ineffectiveness at every level - from trying to actually move the project away from the senator who introduces the idea, to the attempt of creating a large solution by yourself. Given one would want to stop all pork spending, what are the chances of succeeding by doing this? They are less than 0. You are trying to support your points with ad-hominem, non-sequitirs, begging questions, etc. Certainly you display all attributes of a troll.

    Why am I voted 'Flamebait'? That's simple - supposedly Lieberman is a Democrat, but it is really irrelevant, the relevant part is that he is simply a corporatist, but on this site many people are 'progressive' technocrats and they don't understand subtlety of this, so they go with the obvious: someone is attacking a supposed 'Democrat' and they react.

  69. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1
    my solution isn't useless... it COMPELTELY solves the problem. if you don't have enough resources to implement the solution then don't complain about your lack of ability....

    very odd to ask why you are flamebait AFTER i point out that someone else thought you were, and also why i thought you were... WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT? you are being hypocritical, uninformed, and projecting a sense of demand. that combination serves to bait those who would complain about how flawed your argument is based on the fact that it is self contradicting.

    the only way your solution is real is that it really is useless... you said so yourself... you're not getting rid of corruption... you're just pruning it on a schedule allowing it to dig it's roots deeper and deeper. the solution is figurative weed killer. cut off the problems source of nourishment.

    what do you do for a living?

  70. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    my solution isn't useless... it COMPELTELY solves the problem. if you don't have enough resources to implement the solution then don't complain about your lack of ability....

    - your 'solution' is completely useless because it is not practical in any way shape or form, your argument is similar to this: to solve all our energy problems all we have to do is invent a perpetuum mobile (perpetual motion machine, and never mind the thermodynamics, so if you do not have enough 'resources' to implement this amazing solution then don't complain about your lack of ability.

    very odd to ask why you are flamebait AFTER i point out that someone else thought you were, and also why i thought you were...

    - now I wonder, which one of us speaks English as the second language? (Fourth actually?) If you think that was a question directed to you, and right after it the answer is provided (as with many rhetorical questions, which it also was) then I have to wonder about your ability to shape and order your own thoughts.

    The correct solution is to remove the source of the problem, not to fight the symptoms. Unfortunately that is not what people understand, fighting symptoms is more direct but it does not remove the problem.

    Pork spending is only but a small part of the entire problem and people like Lieberman need to be fought on a completely different level, they need to be removed from the office. Their entire agenda is suspect, they cannot be trusted because of their complete lack of interest in anything but the corporate agenda, which is really their own agenda since it makes them the most money. Every single thing Lieberman or someone like him does is done for their direct or implied profit. My solution covers all aspects of this problem, you propose to fight a symptom in a absolutely impossible manner and you are adamant that it is a practical solution, it is amazing.

    What I do for a living also has nothing to do with any of this or are you looking for more vectors for personal attacks? You can figure out what I do for a living easily, if you don't see it, well, I already said that your solutions are not practical, maybe it is just a reflection of the rest of your persona.

    How long are you planning to continue with this particular thread anyway? It is not really a very practical exercise, don't you see? I don't think you are interested in learning anything and from my perspective this thread became redundant a while ago.

  71. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    so you are saying logical fact is irrelevant because it isn't practical, yet you claim your practical solution is relevant even though it's logically false as the problem remains. the problem with corruption isn't in the individuals serving in office... it's in the corporate/political party alliances... there is no term limits on ideological platforms based on stopping people from doing things.

  72. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    as I said, reform the process of how the politicians communicate with corporations, outlaw corporate donations, provide people, who collected enough signatures with some funding so they don't have to market themselves to the lobbyists and the corporations, but only have to concentrate on their work. This is a huge problem - corporate money going for or against a politician and it is legal in your country. Everything else is noise.

  73. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    Bill Halter - lieutenant governor of Arkansas has declared he is going to be running against Blanche Lincoln, who is a Democrat but she has done everything to represent corporate interests.

    Obama is going to defend Blanche Lincoln, because he also is a corporatist who does not want any reform.

    Blanche Lincoln is a corporatist, who took corporate money and for example voted against the public option in your country.

    Bill Halter is not of-course a non-politician, he will not come and change everything, he'll become corrupt in a couple of years, but that's because everyone else in Washington is corrupt. That's why every corporatist whore needs to be voted out and replaced with new people, this way with all new people, it should be really possible to run reforms to fix the problems.

    Peter Schiff is running in Connecticut where Chris Dodd, the 'Democrat' and really a corporatist used to be a senator. Of-course Dodd just quit being senator to become a lobbyist, so he'll cash in on his implied bribes from the corporations he represented. Schiff is a libertarian, never mind he runs as a Republican, his father is imprisoned for working against IRS and showing people how not to pay taxes.

    Scott Brown won in a Democratic state, an amazing NOBODY that he is, but look, he just voted against Republicans for the 'jobs bill' (not that I agree with make shift government projects, but...)

    Yes, it is possible to change the establishment by removing the corporatists and it does not take 1000 years and inventing a perpetual motion machine.

  74. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1
    hey genius, the original problem was that a politician took federal money to spend in his own state... the same state where the voters who put him in office will benefit from the money.... and you plan for these people to electively vote him out? you don't see the conflict of interest? your "process" will NEVER do ANYTHING to change ANYTHING.

    you are the worst kind of stupid.

  75. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1
    so i'm assuming that the fed took back all the pork money that the previous politicians earmarked... oh, they didn't?

    then i'm assuming that all other corruption has stopped and these new politicians are somehow guaranteed to never do anything unethical in the future.... oh, they aren't?

    is that your definition of fixed?

  76. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    you start with a 'genius' and end with the 'stupid'. I guess that's the crux of the problem, I am looking at the issues, you are looking for something else altogether, I call it trolling.

    People put Lieberman to power as much as corporate cash put him to power, let's see how this plays out next time in his state. 'People' will not get any benefit from him in his state, now corporations will, 'people' will see it this time.

  77. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    'The fed' is a corporate whore as a whole as much as most of its parts. The rest of your post is nonsense and non-sequitur since it never follows the premises, which are wrong in themselves.

    As I said, new politicians have about 2 years to be corrupted by the system, so the system needs a more swift kick to be updated with a reform of election financing and voting out the establishment. It has started now and will not take 1000 years. AFAIC the US financially is destroyed and is in motion only by the force of inertia. The US dollar will collapse due to imbalance of trade and an enormous debt, and the situation will be triggered by a failure on some of the derivatives traded in the financial market. What happened in 2009 will happen again but on a more total scale. After that there could be a war and a clean slate supposedly, but I don't read the future, I just see similarities to the histories of the past. You will have your reforms and changes one way or another. It would be better for you to have it done by voting.

  78. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1
    you were the one who complained about spending... i provided the only solution to stop it.

    imagine a dam full of holes... you are suggesting using a substance to plug the holes that decays. you don't assume the holes will only get worse as the demands on the dam increase? you can plug the spending forever by not letting it happen.

    i meant genius sarcastically of course... i was going to spell it genious to imply that, but i thought you might be so stupid you'd point it out yourself and waste more of my time. you being stupid certainly is the crux of the problem, genious.

  79. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    The rest of your post is nonsense and non-sequitur since it never follows the premises, which are wrong in themselves.

    DURRRR. that's the point, genious. if they are wrong, you are wrong.

  80. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    It would be better for you to have it done by voting

    so where does complaining about spending on the internet fall into that? if the money is worthless, the spending is irrelevant. the inertia you claim exists is the same pressure i illustrated with a dam full of holes.

    your point seems to be that the dam is sure to break, so there is no point trying to fix it, but we should still buy more and more paste to stick in the holes for a little while. then if someone points out how silly it is, rhetorically state the above as if it justifys everything.

    the pure definition of flamebait...

    so the real issue is you.

  81. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    If your premises are wrong I am wrong? I see, I hope your work is not in software development, your logic is not, what I'd call 'impeccable'.

  82. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1
    you complained about spending... you also claim that it will never stop, and that you'll only vote people out AFTER they have been "spoiled" and the spending has already taken place.

    if you can't see the fault in pointlessly complaining, then i assume your work does not involve thinking of any kind.

  83. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    if the money is worthless, the spending is irrelevant.

    - this does not follow from anything, money is becoming worthless by government printing it, by not having trade balanced. However the money is not worthless as long as you can buy food / energy / shelter with them and as long as you are willing to work for it. The worthlessness of the money will come later, when the rest of the world will stop providing US with more debt by buying treasuries and when they call on the debt.

    your point seems to be that the dam is sure to break, so there is no point trying to fix it, but we should still buy more and more paste to stick in the holes for a little while. then if someone points out how silly it is, rhetorically state the above as if it justifys everything.

    - financially the dam is braking, politically you can do something about it to mitigate the consequences now, rather than witnessing a collapse of yet another country, besides which citizen of the US is willing to do nothing at all and go through the collapse without even trying? Maybe you are, are you really a good representative of the population though? I think it is unlikely.

    the pure definition of flamebait...

    - when I see someone stating that something is a 'pure definitions', I know I am dealing with either an idiot or a religious fanatic (very close things in my book) - now you see, that was a flamebait. What I said about Lieberman is not, it is my opinion, which you may disagree with and you may hate, but it was never a flamebait.

  84. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    please state all of the premises you are referencing and i will provide you with a circuit diagram showing your faults. my "logic" exists. yours doesn't.

  85. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    you are completely and totally wrong.

  86. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    since you were the first one to complain about my logic, my intellect etc., I suggest you do this yourself, so that I can summarily dismiss all of your claims in about half a sentence. Good luck with all of that.

  87. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    'completely' and 'totally' - excellent trolling and a double proof of the comment to which you are directing your response.

  88. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    What I said about Lieberman is not, it is my opinion, which you may disagree with and you may hate, but it was never a flamebait.

    you think that something that exists in front of your eyes is unimaginable... perhaps you don't know what it means to be able to imagine something. if not, you were instigating argument... so again, you are pointing out exactly why you are wrong seemingly to prove why you think you aren't wrong. you are stupid.

  89. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1
    you brought up the problem: spending. i provided a VALID solution that 100% eliminates the problem you complained about.

    you were not happy with that as you just like to complain. you are stupid.

  90. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    you think that something that exists in front of your eyes is unimaginable... perhaps you don't know what it means to be able to imagine something. if not, you were instigating argument... so again, you are pointing out exactly why you are wrong seemingly to prove why you think you aren't wrong. you are stupid.

    - every conversation is about instigating an argument, otherwise what is the point of a conversation? But that is a rhetorical question, and as we have demonstrated an a few occasions here, you do not posses the intelligence to parse out such complexities of the language, which is ironic, supposedly you are the one with the native grasp of this tongue in this dialog. However it has long ceased being a dialog and most likely it never were, it is simply a diatribe.

  91. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    well... you don't seem to understand when things are completely true, so i'm condescending to you by offering double truths. you are still oblivious. you are stupid.

  92. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    genious.

  93. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    Now I think I maybe talking to an automaton, who is running in an infinite loop. 'Stupid' - is that the best they programmed you with? You are a broken machine, a faulty computer, an incorrect algorithm and it is sad.

  94. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    FLAMEBAIT

  95. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1
    FLAMEBAIT.

    also, "maybe""may be""might be".

    stupid.

  96. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    Now you are talking to yourself. Not only you are a broken computer program, you are also a schizophrenic.

  97. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    "maybe" != "may be" != "might be"

    genious.

  98. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you have never been correct ever in your life.

  99. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    I am now witnessing a degradation, whether I am talking to a computer program or a human, in either case, the observation is that this entity has descended into the lowest state of getting ready to throw feces at the opponent. This is the de-evolution, degradation, supposedly a higher entity moving down to reflect the lowest standard of communication. You are now something of a monkey.

    You don't like my English?

                , .

    Peut-etre tu preferais parler au tongue royal, je ne pense pas que tu are prete pour ce, parce que tu est un tete de noeud, salope.

  100. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    Too bad some languages are UTF-8 and not accepted by the silly /. filter. Oh well, the entities still say it all:

    Ну давай переведем разговор на другой язык, обезьяна обосранная.

    paste the entity text into the second box and click 'verify', that'll spit out the sentiment exactly.

  101. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    you are not willing to concede that your original instigation was pointless... much like someone on the street with a picket sign that reads "WOMEN SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO HAVE ABORTIONS". you start by throwing shit, and then complain when someone else "gets ready" to?

    you are stupid.

  102. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    talking to yourself in multiple languages not supported by the medium you are using to do it....i don't think that even has a name is psychiatry books yet...

  103. Re:don't trust it, it's about pork by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 1

    what is the point of a conversation without instigating an argument?

    you are stupid.