Re: You pays your money...
"Even without knowing which government department this was it would be plain that said department was run by accountants."
Most are, but their budgets are set by the accountants the departments work for. In the end it is Treasury that determines what funding a department will get and it often works out that it is not enough. For the past decade HMRC has had to give up a huge amount to meet the Austerity Challenges the government set. This delayed even further any plans for modernising and only just about let development go ahead to meet new requirements from government.
Not that long ago there were numerous dependent legacy systems still running on NT4.0 let alone Windows 2000 or Server 2003. Can't guess how many still are. These all need bringing up to date to be able to run on later OS. But it's not a simple matter of switching over as many of the services running on the old kit are interlinked and need to run 24 hours a day.
Perhaps it would have been better if the government had paid for system integration when HM Customs initially joined with the Inland Revenue than let it drag on for a couple of decades, retaining separate systems then slowly merging when the string holding them together started to unwind.
Big trouble now is that many of the folk who knew the systems, network and code have left. So it costs another arm and leg in getting network surveys undertaken, then understand the interdependencies and critical nature of system use.
Another bite on the bum
Biting the hand that feeds IT
