MS-DOS and Windows 3.11 still run train dashboards at German railway

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https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/ms-dos-and-windows-311-still-run-train-dashboards-at-german-railway-company-listed-admin-job-for-30-year-old-operating-system

A German railway firm posted a vacancy for a Windows 3.11 Administrator just before the weekend. In addition to skills in wrangling Windows for Workgroups on the 30-year-old operating system, the recruiter would look upon a candidate more fondly for possessing MS-DOS experience. The admin would purportedly oversee systems with 166MHz processors and a whopping 8MB of RAM. It might seem slightly worrying that modern railways are still running on such ancient systems, but mission-critical systems often adhere to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy…

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BobbyB, Charlie, 7ProSP1, Fred, Myst, Cybertooth

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Is that the Hornby station? /s

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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BobbyB, Myst

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Alex5723 wrote:

It might seem slightly worrying that modern railways are still running on such ancient systems, but mission-critical systems often adhere to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy…

Whaha, this sounds rock-solid….
Time will tell, or mr.Einstein

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The fact that Windows 3.11 is still performing its task apparently without much if any problem speaks for itself.

Even astrophysicist Carl Sagan when speaking astronomically used Billions, not Trillions.

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7ProSP1, Cybertooth

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5.25-inch floppy disks expected to help run San Francisco trains until 2030 – Ars Technica – April 10, 2024

“The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which runs the city’s Muni Metro light rail, claims to be the first US agency to adopt floppy disks. But today, the SFMTA is eager to abandon its reliance on 5¼-inch floppy disks—just give it about six more years and a few hundred more million dollars. – Yes, it runs on DOS loaded from 5¼-inch floppy disks, but it’s still serviceable,”

San Francisco on the Bleeding Edge of Train Technology ?!?

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7ProSP1, Alex5723, Cybertooth

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This really makes you wonder where your taxes go.

Even astrophysicist Carl Sagan when speaking astronomically used Billions, not Trillions.

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Microfix, Cybertooth

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here’s where it’s been going in the UK:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/13/europe/britain-air-defense-laser-dragonfire-intl-hnk-ml/index.html
Star Wars-esque military laser weapons. Circa $13 a discharge

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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Given the state the world is currently in, this looks like a good thing!

Even astrophysicist Carl Sagan when speaking astronomically used Billions, not Trillions.

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Microfix

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