Re: Fingers crossed
IT might be worth exploring what's meant by "1980s mainframe paradigms". I'm aware that applications paradigms have shifted in 30 years or so but that doesn't mean that an upgrade needs this shift. If its just a problem with maintaining obsolete hardware then it should be fairly easy to emulate that hardware using a commodity processor. Its the same with the peripherals; these are probably the part of the old system that not only needs the most maintenance but is the one that's most trouble to repair.
Replacing a set of aging hardware so an existing software suite can continue to be used is probably a lot cheaper than rewriting the entire system from the ground up. The rewrite introduces all sorts of extra work and uncertainty plus the obvious 'mission creep' which is why people might be skeptical that it could be completed successfully in a specified timescale.
(I'm an engineer so while I like new and interesting things I also subscribe to the notion that "If it works, don't mess with it".)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
