I've got an 8088 in my closet if they need it

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/54fb0c2ad1e249658cde51c3c6380252/govt-report-feds-spend-billions-run-ancient-technology

[3rdnlng]

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/54fb0c2ad1e249658cde51c3c6380252/govt-report-feds-spend-billions-run-ancient-technology

Gee, I was wondering what to do with my old Sony Mavica Digital Camera that uses 3.5" floppy discs. I bought it in the 90's for about $850. Maybe the government will buy it.

[KD in CA]

Gee, I was wondering what to do with my old Sony Mavica Digital Camera that uses 3.5" floppy discs. I bought it in the 90's for about $850. Maybe the government will buy it.

 

Just be prepared, they won't pay a penny over $9,000 for it.

[GG]

 

Just be prepared, they won't pay a penny over $9,000 for it.

 

Do you have a twin in CT?

[Chef Jim]

 

Do you have a twin in CT?

 

Well there goes our state.

[KD in CA]

 

Well there goes our state.

 

I can't take credit for that (yet), but I did notice that in my brief time here Steph Curry has turned into John Starks and the Warriors went from 'greatest team of all time' to getting the **** kicked out of them by OKC.

[Chef Jim]

 

I can't take credit for that (yet), but I did notice that in my brief time here Steph Curry has turned into John Starks and the Warriors went from 'greatest team of all time' to getting the **** kicked out of them by OKC.

 

You're over on the "other side". You have nothing to do with the Dubs.

 

Oh and don't take that as me being a fan. I've been out of the NBA loop for so long I didn't know the Warriors played in Oakland until I moved up here. Seriously, I had no idea where they called home.

Edited May 25, 2016 by Chef Jim

[keepthefaith]

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/54fb0c2ad1e249658cde51c3c6380252/govt-report-feds-spend-billions-run-ancient-technology

 

8088 as in Intel 8088 PC like the original IBM PC or XT?

Edited May 25, 2016 by keepthefaith

[Just Jack]

Social Security systems that are used to determine eligibility and estimate benefits, about 31 years old. Some use a programming language called COBOL, dating to the late 1950s and early 1960s. "Most of the employees who developed these systems are ready to retire and the agency will lose their collective knowledge," the report said. "Training new employees to maintain the older systems takes a lot of time."

When I was in college (late 80's - early 90's) they still offered COBOL as a programming class. Maybe if I had paid more attention I could have been hired by the government.

[Chef Jim]

When I was in college (late 80's - early 90's) they still offered COBOL as a programming class. Maybe if I had paid more attention I could have been hired by the government.

 

Get with it man. Because you didn't pay attention you're a perfect candidate for work for the government.

[/dev/null]

I have a TI Scientific Calculator from my High School days buried somewhere in the attic. Anybody got an in with the Clinton Global Initiative to hook me up with some Federal IT contract?

[Azalin]

I still have a hardback detailing the design & construction of the 8086 processor. If someone has one that details the 8087 math co-processor, maybe we can lend the IRS a hand.

[3rdnlng]

I still have a hardback detailing the design & construction of the 8086 processor. If someone has one that details the 8087 math co-processor, maybe we can lend the IRS a hand.

I don't have any manuals, but I do have a list of little known conservative non profits that might sweeten our bid.

[Azalin]

I don't have any manuals, but I do have a list of little known conservative non profits that might sweeten our bid.

 

That might go a long way in helping to modernize the IRS, since they'll eventually wind up trashing whatever hard discs onto which that info gets stored.

[DC Tom]

I've worked on some of those systems. And there's a reason they can't replace them: bad, bad, bad procurement and PM processes. The federal retirement system, for example, is still paper-based (miles of file cabinets in a limestone mine in Pennsylvania) because every project to automate it has failed completely - they try once every decade or so, and the project inevitably collapses from bad management (they've spent several billion failing so far.) Same with the OPM background check system that was hacked last year - 35 year old system, the replacement for which was a 5-year project that was cancelled after 7 years, when 20% done and $100m over budget (and the new replacement system is already a year behind schedule and $50m over budget.) I can think of plenty of other examples I've either been directly involved with or know people who were involved (White House Signals, Ginnie Mae, USDA, ISG, USCIS, FBI, any damn thing DHS touches, Census, anything involving health care).

 

I've been recruited pretty heavily over the past 5 years to work on the IRS system upgrades. I wouldn't go near those projects for any amount of money.

 

 

Fun side story: it's not just government. My father used to work for IBM, and got a service call from a bank one day, needing their mainframe fixed. Wasn't his account, but he got the call because he was the only one able to work on this truly ancient mainframe. So after diagnosing it, he identifies a part that needs replacing that is no longer manufactured and not in stock. He tells the client it can't be fixed and they need to buy a new mainframe; client tells him "this mainframe is mission-critical, fix it." So my father scours the world for the part, and finds it in two places: one is in Moscow, and requires the involvement of the State Department to even request it. The other one is in the friggin' Smithsonian. He ended up giving them the number for the Smithsonian and telling them to call them and try and get the part themselves.

[Gary M]

I've worked on some of those systems. And there's a reason they can't replace them: bad, bad, bad procurement and PM processes. The federal retirement system, for example, is still paper-based (miles of file cabinets in a limestone mine in Pennsylvania) because every project to automate it has failed completely - they try once every decade or so, and the project inevitably collapses from bad management (they've spent several billion failing so far.) Same with the OPM background check system that was hacked last year - 35 year old system, the replacement for which was a 5-year project that was cancelled after 7 years, when 20% done and $100m over budget (and the new replacement system is already a year behind schedule and $50m over budget.) I can think of plenty of other examples I've either been directly involved with or know people who were involved (White House Signals, Ginnie Mae, USDA, ISG, USCIS, FBI, any damn thing DHS touches, Census, anything involving health care).

 

I've been recruited pretty heavily over the past 5 years to work on the IRS system upgrades. I wouldn't go near those projects for any amount of money.

 

 

Fun side story: it's not just government. My father used to work for IBM, and got a service call from a bank one day, needing their mainframe fixed. Wasn't his account, but he got the call because he was the only one able to work on this truly ancient mainframe. So after diagnosing it, he identifies a part that needs replacing that is no longer manufactured and not in stock. He tells the client it can't be fixed and they need to buy a new mainframe; client tells him "this mainframe is mission-critical, fix it." So my father scours the world for the part, and finds it in two places: one is in Moscow, and requires the involvement of the State Department to even request it. The other one is in the friggin' Smithsonian. He ended up giving them the number for the Smithsonian and telling them to call them and try and get the part themselves.

 

 

Welllll!!! Don't leave us hanging like that,

[OCinBuffalo]

Similar story to Tom's, but COBOL is at least a programming language with a compiler...of sorts. And an IBM mainframe has working parts, not working...people.

 

On one of my first projects I actually walked into a punch card computing system. Here it was in the 90s, and they actually had "operators" in this big room whose job it was to create cards and run them through the system. It was fascinating. The project I was on was due to fail because, as you say, 2 things: government, and bad management. The PM was clueless, and had essentially turned over her duties to a micromanaging clown, who couldn't understand a single line of code, but "knew" IT better than everyone else...which until I showed up, was actually true at that office. He "knew" things like what a server was. So, naturally, it made sense to put him in charge of techincal decisions( ), hell, all decisions, leaving nothing for the rest of us to do. Thus, I had lots of extra time to spend in the punch card room. I tried to do stuff, but after getting told my good work wasn't needed, and threatened with being kicked off the project and fired for...unmitigated competence, I guess...I and another guy who was dealing with the same thing, basically shut down.

 

Thus, we would hang out at the punch card room and marvel. Initially the operators "hated" us, because we represented an end to their jobs. However, once we explained just how miserably our project would fail, we were all buds. They'd even let us do things. It was sorta fun..better than being bored off your ass for 9 hours a day.

 

This was the seminal project for me where the daily act of wearing a suit and tie...was more important than actually doing my F'ing job. I never again suffered attire to be more important than work product.

 

It was the end of me freeing myself from the Big 6, and sending me into the exact opposite, but just as idiotic, land of Silicon Valley. In the end, at least I got to see a punch card machine in action, and I did get to run a program. That is something most IT nerds envy today. And, like Tom said, it's an even bet that this client is still running their punch card system.

Edited May 28, 2016 by OCinBuffalo

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

The federal retirement system, for example, is still paper-based (miles of file cabinets in a limestone mine in Pennsylvania) because every project to automate it has failed completely - they try once every decade or so, and the project inevitably collapses from bad management (they've spent several billion failing so far.)

 

Two weeks ago, we had a meeting with a government agency with a project that we are doing. And, given the nature of the project, it required coordination/approval with this government agency.

 

So I called the government guy and asked him how many copies of our project document (1100 pages) he needed for his agency in order to review it. He e-mailed me back and said that they do no use "paper" submissions anymore, and that they use only use electronic submissions. And he sent me a link to use to submit it, along with instructions.

 

So, we used his link to send in our 1100-page document (pdf).

 

And, he and his co-workers used Adobe Acrobat to mark up their comments on our pdf.

 

So, two weeks ago we had a meeting with the government agency at their office to review our project. And for the meeting, which included a total of 23 people, the government guy printed 23 color copies of the 1100-page document with the mark-ups and handed them out at the meeting.

[Nanker]

Man, do they ever need BoardVantage or something similar.

[/dev/null]

 

Two weeks ago, we had a meeting with a government agency with a project that we are doing. And, given the nature of the project, it required coordination/approval with this government agency.

 

So I called the government guy and asked him how many copies of our project document (1100 pages) he needed for his agency in order to review it. He e-mailed me back and said that they do no use "paper" submissions anymore, and that they use only use electronic submissions. And he sent me a link to use to submit it, along with instructions.

 

So, we used his link to send in our 1100-page document (pdf).

 

And, he and his co-workers used Adobe Acrobat to mark up their comments on our pdf.

 

So, two weeks ago we had a meeting with the government agency at their office to review our project. And for the meeting, which included a total of 23 people, the government guy printed 23 color copies of the 1100-page document with the mark-ups and handed them out at the meeting.

 

Based off a quick Staples search for printer paper and toner cartridges and HPs website on network printer specs

 

23 people * 1100 pages = 25300 pages

500 pages per ream = 51 reams of paper

$7 per ream = $357 for paper

 

estimate 10,000 pages per toner cartridge

25,300 pages = 3 toner cartidges

$200 per cartridge

$600 for toner

 

estimate 40 pages per minute

25300 pages = 632.5 minutes ~ 10.5 hours of printing

 

Network printer consumes about 750W

750W * 10.5h = 7.875 kWh

 

So figure about $950 to print that out

And the environmental impact of 25300 sheets of paper, 3 toner cartridges, and 8 kwh of electricity