Decades after their heyday, aging Windows systems persist in surprising corners of society. The BBC's visit to a modern New York City hospital revealed an in-elevator screen that relied on Windows XP. Despite official support ending for that operating system a decade ago, it lives on in places like ATMs, due in part to the high cost and complexity of upgrades. (One ATM tech tells the BBC that some ATMs even rely on the older Windows NT, which debuted in 1993.) In Germany, a job listing for an IT systems administrator for the nation's rail system raised a stir because of the stipulation that applicants have a handle on Windows 3.11 and MS-DOS; the latter was released 44 years ago.
Similarly, San Francisco's light rail depends on DOS; though an upgrade is planned, staff must boot up the control system with a floppy disk each day. The phenomenon extends beyond transit. High-end printers, CNC woodworking machines, and crucial government health record systems continue to rely on software from the last millennium; costs and compatibility issues are big barriers to upgrades when it comes to computer systems that have opted for "deferred maintenance" for too long. "For people stuck using these machines, the ghosts of Windows' past are an ever-present feature of daily life." In Virginia Tech associate professor Lee Vinsel's mind, their persistence is also "the story of the company's overall success." (Read the full story here.) (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
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