It's almost bizarre to think, but the era of the PC is ending. Most people have laptops and those are slowly morphing into smart phones and tablets. In five years, chances are you'll be having a hard time pulling up your old tax statements because nothing will run the software. But you know that financial app your insurance company had written for them in the 1960's? They'll still be able to run it!
That's because they wrote it for this thing called the IBM System/360, which first went into service in 1965 -- almost 50 years ago -- and for which IBM just released yet another new system that is still backwards compatible. That's right! Programs written for the IBM System/360 are still compatible with the fastest general-purpose computer today, the new IBM zEnterprise EC12.
The PC maybe dying, but the mainframe is still here with us.
I wish I understood what any of that meant. I am actually for anything that won't let me see my past tax records...those are just depressing:)
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the government also has IBM System/360s and so on, so they can see your tax records.
DeleteI learned programming on a 360 in 1969... sigh... Punch cards on an 1190, with NO script!
ReplyDeleteWell then, your programs are good to go. Actually, if they hadn't been saved off to another medium then the punched cards might be a bit of a problem.
DeleteStill, that's cool.