BBC: "The people stuck using ancient Windows computers"

[DrLeftover]

CTRL+ALT+DEL, but make it forever. As technology marches on, some people get trapped using decades-old software and devices. Here's a look inside the strange, stubborn world of obsolete Windows machines.

...
"Many ATMs still operate on legacy Windows systems, including Windows XP and even Windows NT," which launched in 1993, says Elvis Montiero, an ATM field technician based in Newark, New Jersey in the US. "The challenge with upgrading these machines lies in the high costs associated with hardware compatibility, regulatory compliance and the need to rewrite proprietary ATM software," he says.
Microsoft ended official support for Windows XP in 2014, but Montiero says many ATMs still rely on these primordial systems thanks to their reliability, stability and integration with banking infrastructure.

MORE:

Still booting after all these years: The people stuck using ancient Windows computers

As technology marches on, some people get trapped using decades-old software and devices. Here's a look inside the strange, stubborn world of obsolete Windows machines.

www.bbc.com

Note: the machine I used to make this post is Windows 7, official MS support ended five years ago!

 

[passenger]

Note: the machine I used to make this post is Windows 7, official MS support ended five years ago!

I must say that I do admire the ingenuity and sticktooitivness.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Trusting money and ATM's with an old software sounds like a missed opportunity for hackers. Thanks for sharing this so they can rob us all

 

[DrLeftover]

Trusting money and ATM's with an old software sounds like a missed opportunity for hackers. Thanks for sharing this so they can rob us all

The hackers are all running Windows 12.

How are they going to get into something running Windows 95? Windows isn't backwards compatible.

 

[Dead2009]

Update your god damn computers, people

 

[KO896]

Microsoft updated its software, and didn't bother to care if the rest of the world could afford to do so as well. I read the article and never realized how many companies/businesses didn't upgrade because of the complications and cost of doing so.

 

[DrLeftover]

The OS on the office machines my eye doctor runs on is based on 7.

They still have it because the new system they were looking at couldn't access the patient database attached to the old system. They'd lose a dozen years or more of medical and billing records if they installed a new system, and converting it over would take months and thousands of dollars of manhours.

 

[Grungie]

If you're on a closed network, the threat vector is more from insider threats than external.