RE: Living with elderly technology
We have more than a few Windows NT 4 PCs attached to laboratory equipment at our manufacturing plants. In most cases the operation of this lab equipment is tied to a particular version of software which will only operate with older PC hardware and software. This lab equipment can be very expensive and has a working life of 10 or more years. We have retained a number of suitable computers as spare parts in case of hardware failure in future.
Another arguement for retaining older technology is increased ROI. Vendors will frequently quote favourable ROI (return on investment) as a reason to adopt their product. If an existing technology is continuing to reliably do it's job then the business is maximising it's return on investment and any proposed replacement will not improve profitability.
