Secure Software Systems

End-of-Life

The decision to stop building and supporting a software system is usually more of a business decision than a technical decision. If upgrades to technology always dictated changing to new systems using the new technology, there would not be millions and millions of lines of COBOL applications still running, still supported, and still, in some cases, being sold. Being old, or old-fashioned, is not the equivalent of being unprofitable or undesired. If that were the case, there would not be such a strong demand for handcrafted furniture or other goods made by hand by the Amish and other artisans. In fact, I am convinced that there will soon be a market for “hand-crafted COBOL programs written by greybeards-in-sandals.” On the other hand, ...