this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2025
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Mildly Interesting
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It's easier to write "obsolete" than it is "single purpose computer often loaded with technical debt and risk". A computer is meant as a general purpose device. If it can only do one, it's mostly obsolete anyhow
That depends on how many things you NEED it to do. My kitchen knife is not more obsolete than my air fryer just because it does fewer things.
And this is a misuse of the term technical debt. Technical debt does not mean OLD. Finished software from the 80s that was complete and bug free has no technical debt. New software almost UNIVERSALLY has more technical debt than older software because nobody has cleaned up the first draft yet. A continuing, rolling package of spaghetti code, patches, unvetted dependencies, and jammed in features that are sold for subscription fee purposes rather than customer need is OVERFLOWING with it. That's what "move fast and break things" MEANS.
Your kitchen knife is not a computer.
Software is never without bugs. Baffling you'd say otherwise. And I was referring to the many situations where companies used outdated computer systems for many years even though it causes extra work for employees. Absolutely textbook tech debt.
Absolutely disagree on this. There is no fundamental reason software must have bugs. However old systems can be their own technical debt because of things like the hardware no longer being produced and therefore unable to be directly repaired if it breaks from age.
This leaves either reprogramming for a modern device or things like emulation which can create/surface bugs that weren't present before.
The most extreme example I have heard of (sadly couldn't quickly find a link for it) was a disorientation simulator for pilot training that had zero software issues in several decades of use and when the hardware failed they replaced it with an FPGA in a modern system that ran all the old code 1 for 1. PDP stuff originally I think.
Additional edit - I'll add that "bug free" software is insanely rare in reality and nearly but not quite impossible to create in practice. I can't say the software didn't technically have bugs but if multiple decades of use didn't have them show up in practice it is functionally bug free.
You make a fair point.
It's always a risk balance.
Spending effort and money to upgrade a system just so you can say it's new makes no sense.
Physical security systems still use single-pair lines for door switches because it just works. There's no reason to make those things networked just because you can (and companies are trying).
Lol wtf