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Still booting after all these years: The people stuck using ancient Windows computers (www.bbc.com)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It's probably only the screen component that is running an old version of embedded windows.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

That's what I think too. And then I see "Their systems are built into everything around us", which basically only applies to PCs and laptops. What is built into pretty much everything around us, is GnuLinux.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What is built into pretty much everything around us is GnuLinux.

Many things, but far from that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Yeah, it was a statement, not a question. But it's partly my fault for not using the comma appropriately. Fixed.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Not even GNU - just Linux.

Yeah yeah, something something GNU/Linux blah blah copypasta....

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Screen? In a elevator?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 days ago (1 children)

How else are you gonna show ads?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 days ago

I hate that you are right.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Yes? That is not that unusual and it is mentioned in the third sentence of the article.

As I rode up to the 14th floor, my eyes were drawn to a screen built into the side of the lift.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Those screens can easily run on an integrated Raspberry Pi microcontroller, they dont exactly have complex graphics

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

RPi is not a microcontroller.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

We are far away from the release of the Raspberry Pi if that screen is running an early version of Windows CE. Putting a PC in the elevator to drive the screen was probably the most cost effective solution.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Was but theres no reason to keep doing that

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago

New ones probably use something newer. The 20 year old elevator in a hospital will only be upgraded if something breaks.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

There's not particularly good reason to stop doing it in that scenario either.

You have an offline technology stack in that elevator that has been doing the job correctly for 20 years. Why take on the expense and risk of changing things that aren't currently broken?

It would be crazy if you are building new to resort to that stack, but for an established elevator, why bother?

Same for some old oscilloscopes at work. I'm not crazy about the choice but I can hardly suggest it would be practical to change it while the oscilloscopes still do their function.

I would say it's a problem if the stack is online, but if it is self contained, the age of the software doesn't make it a problem in and out itself.