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US government still using floppy disks

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  US government still using floppy disks James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-05-26 08:24 +0100
    Re: US government still using floppy disks Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-05-27 02:38 -0400
      Re: US government still using floppy disks James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-05-29 07:30 +0100
        Re: US government still using floppy disks Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-06-02 16:20 -0400

#9567 — US government still using floppy disks

US government still using floppy disks. Even the really old 8" ones!

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/26/us/pentagon-floppy-disks-nuclear/

There is a link to the original PDF report in the CNN article. Just one 
part therefrom:

"Department of Defense uses 8-inch floppy disks in a legacy system that 
coordinates the operational functions of the nation’s nuclear forces. In 
addition, Department of the Treasury uses assembly language code—a 
computer language initially used in the 1950s and typically tied to the 
hardware for which it was developed."

If it ain't broke....

-- 
James Harris

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#9571

On Thu, 26 May 2016 08:24:43 +0100
James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> wrote:

> US government still using floppy disks. Even the really old 8" ones!
> 
> http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/26/us/pentagon-floppy-disks-nuclear/
> 
> There is a link to the original PDF report in the CNN article. Just
> one part therefrom:
> 
> "Department of Defense uses 8-inch floppy disks in a legacy system
> that coordinates the operational functions of the nation’s nuclear
> forces. In addition, Department of the Treasury uses assembly
> language code—a computer language initially used in the 1950s and
> typically tied to the hardware for which it was developed."
> 
> If it ain't broke....
> 

For the amount of money they spend on this stuff, they could have
custom systems manufactured to replace or modernize it.  Most of these
systems would be better off with modern technology.  This is just waste
and laziness.  Everyone wonders why many people in the U.S. are against
government provided healthcare.


Rod Pemberton

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#9582

On 27/05/2016 07:38, Rod Pemberton wrote:
> On Thu, 26 May 2016 08:24:43 +0100
> James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> US government still using floppy disks. Even the really old 8" ones!
>>
>> http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/26/us/pentagon-floppy-disks-nuclear/
>>
>> There is a link to the original PDF report in the CNN article. Just
>> one part therefrom:
>>
>> "Department of Defense uses 8-inch floppy disks in a legacy system
>> that coordinates the operational functions of the nation’s nuclear
>> forces. In addition, Department of the Treasury uses assembly
>> language code—a computer language initially used in the 1950s and
>> typically tied to the hardware for which it was developed."
>>
>> If it ain't broke....
>>
>
> For the amount of money they spend on this stuff, they could have
> custom systems manufactured to replace or modernize it.  Most of these
> systems would be better off with modern technology.  This is just waste
> and laziness.  Everyone wonders why many people in the U.S. are against
> government provided healthcare.

It's easy to replace hardware but the problem may be software. My guess 
is that they have old programs which have worked for years but no one 
understands the programs well enough to rewrite them.

Some programs are probably too fragile for their recompiled versions to 
be relied upon.

-- 
James Harris

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#9602

On Sun, 29 May 2016 07:30:40 +0100
James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> wrote:

> On 27/05/2016 07:38, Rod Pemberton wrote:
> > On Thu, 26 May 2016 08:24:43 +0100
> > James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> wrote:

> >> US government still using floppy disks. Even the really old 8"
> >> ones!
> >>
> >> http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/26/us/pentagon-floppy-disks-nuclear/
> >>
> >> There is a link to the original PDF report in the CNN article. Just
> >> one part therefrom:
> >>
> >> "Department of Defense uses 8-inch floppy disks in a legacy system
> >> that coordinates the operational functions of the nation’s nuclear
> >> forces. In addition, Department of the Treasury uses assembly
> >> language code—a computer language initially used in the 1950s and
> >> typically tied to the hardware for which it was developed."
> >>
> >> If it ain't broke....
> >>  
> >
> > For the amount of money they spend on this stuff, they could have
> > custom systems manufactured to replace or modernize it.  Most of
> > these systems would be better off with modern technology.  This is
> > just waste and laziness.  Everyone wonders why many people in the
> > U.S. are against government provided healthcare.  
> 
> It's easy to replace hardware but the problem may be software. My
> guess is that they have old programs which have worked for years but
> no one understands the programs well enough to rewrite them.
> 
> Some programs are probably too fragile for their recompiled versions
> to be relied upon.
> 

There are at least two solutions to that: binary translation and
emulation.  There is no reason why this couldn't be emulated in the
internet cloud, unless these are military airgap (offline, isolated)
systems.  The best solution, I think, for our government would be to
build their own military grade, cloud computing and migrate to it.  They
could easily pay Amazon or M$ or probably even IBM to build it for them.
Then, they could use whatever dumb terminal or thin client or computer
or tablet they wanted for users.


Rod Pemberton
Sorry, I wrote this nearly a week ago and forgot to send it.

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