Justice department 'uses aged computer system to frustrate Foia requests'

[mopinko]

4. i wonder what the faa is using.

my hometown has the faa control center for o'hare airport. this is the one where an employee started a fire several years ago.
they were always talking about when they would finally get into this century, and how many gigabucks it would cost. i suspect a top of the line mac could replace the system there.
the upgrade was gonna get done after the fire, but i dont know that it did.

ex is a computer architect whose system has an old legacy core. it is costly to maintain because you cant use kids fresh out of college. you need to hire, and keep, old gray hairs, who used to be cutting edge and expensive. if they are still hanging around after 30-40 years, they are still making good money.
i suppose you could probably find new old guys to replace them for less money if they havent kept up their skills. but even then, they take time to learn the buried secrets. you have to maintain institutional memory.

ex made a very good salary because he could write assembler, and tpf, which is what the airlines used.