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UK Government Department Still Runs VME Operating System Installed In 1974

Posted by Soulskill on from the change-is-scary dept.

Qedward writes: The UK government's Department for Work and Pensions is on the hunt for a new £135,000-a-year CTO, with part of their annual budget of £1 billion and responsibility for DWP's "digital transformation" to oversee the migration of the department's legacy systems which are still run on Fujitsu mainframes using the VME operating system installed in 1974.

3 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. old != bad by AndroSyn · · Score: 5, Informative

    My money is on this VME system being around for another 20 years while the mess of Java and Oracle(you know they're going to use Oracle). It'll be overpriced, late and won't actually work.

    Just because something is old, doesn't mean it needs replaced. In short, why not just upgrade the mainframe?

  2. Re:Well, no one will hack in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    If they can't, then they have no Google-Fu....

    http://www.fujitsu.com/uk/services/application/application-development/vme/

  3. Re:Modern Technology by jbolden · · Score: 3, Informative

    Absolutely true. Today's structures will not stand the test of time. Even the concrete we use is steel reinforced which means in 2 centuries without ongoing care, it will be dust. Though Jerusalem where limestone is dirt cheap and still an excellent building material is an interesting counter example to that global trend towards throw away buildings.