Back to the good old days!

the boss wrote: all computers should be shipped with self destruction timers.. this will increase corporate productivity by saving developers the pain stake of keeping applications backward compatible.. in the corporate anything which improces productivity, efficiency, cost effictiveness is fine..

What, and bankrupt everyone!  Most new OS versions WON'T run on older hardware.  If you want to run Vista, you will most likely need to buy a new PC.  It ain't gonna run on what most people have these days.

 

Plus, there are some software applications that are no longer supported, but no good replacement has been found.

 

And do I really need a screaming fast machine with the latest OS for the computer that I have monitoring all my websites for outages?  No.  Windows 98 on a 350Mhz computer works just fine for testing to see if everything is up and running.  I'd be stupid to buy an $800 machine, or even a $300 machine to do something an older machine can do for free.  Plus, its one less application typing up my RAM on my main computers.

 

Older computers tend to self-destruct by themselves over time.  I don't need an expiration date on my computer and OS telling me to send an e-check to Microsoft and Dell every year or so.

 

And its more efficient if you don't spend money on things that work fine the way they are.  When I worked in the data center at a bank, they had everything, from green screens to the latest Linux clusters to StorageTek Silos.  As long as the old green screen dumb terminals worked for what they were used for, they were used.  You don't need a Windows XP machine with the latest hardware to answer tape mounts, for example.  A short command line was all that was needed, and worked fine.  It'd be a major waste of money to replace it with something newer just for the sake or replacing it with something newer.

No, the dumb terminal was not connected to the internet, it was connected to the mainframe.   Dumb terminals CAN'T be connected to the internet... they are... err, dumb.

 

And just because you use old hardware and software does not mean its insecure.  In fact, security was so tight at the bank that only management had computers that could access the internet, and they were locked down computers with the latest hardware and the latest secure corporate OS.  Employees in the data center could not access the internet at all.  We had to go through 4 card readers, and go past 2 unarmed guards, a mantrap, and an armed guard just to get to the data center and we had to have our security badges with our pictures visible at all times.  Older equipment was used in a physically secure environment where only authorized personel could type in a command line, and none of that equipment could access the internet or be accessed by the internet (or even be accessed by anyone outside the department).  Millions of dollars was spent on security and anything that accessed the internet or was accessed by the internet was the latest hardware and software, or thoroughly patched and supported. 

 

And what about people who don't access the internet.  Did you know that my grandpa used a computer for years to write letters but had no interest on getting on the internet?  His computer should shut off too, even though it still works as a word processor just fine?

 

You are assuming that all hardware is connected to the internet.  Not necessarily so, and in secure environments, internet access is routed through gateways and firewalls and access is monitored and controlled.  And some people, like my grandpa, didn't even have dial-up.

 

As far as my Windows 98 machine, it is behind a firewall, has the latest patches, and only checks on my web servers and web pages.  It does not serve web pages to the internet and cannot be accessed by the internet (any attempt is blocked by the router's firewall) with the exception of responses to requests I have it make.  It has an internal IP so it's ports can't be accessed from outside the router.  Pretty secure since I don't do any risky behavior with it.

 

I can see what you are saying about some people using machinery insecurely, but quite frankly, those same people use NEW technology insecurely too.  Do you know how many people I meet that have brand spanking new computers with the latest OS, and they have never run Windows Update or installed any patches?  New hardware and software does not mean security.  Far from it.

 

The problem isn't the hardware or the software, its the users.  In the right hands, even Windows 95 can be made secure.  In the wrong hands, Windows XP or even Windows Vista can be made insecure.  Even Linux, which supposedly is more secure than Windows, can be made insecure if put into the wrong hands.

 

We shouldn't have to pay for a new computer and operating system every 2 years just because some people don't know what they are doing.  And what about the people who it took them a year to save up for that computer.  The retired?  The poor?  The student?  You are saying it should just shut off on them and then they have to save up for another computer?  I guess no computers for the poor then, huh?