How Microsoft managed to make hospitals, trains and elevators trapped in Windows

This year 50 years of a historical moment were completed. On April 4, 1975, two young people who responded to the name of Bill Gates and Paul Allen gave life to the one who was going to be one of the greatest software empires in history: Microsoft. We counted for such a marked date that after five decades, the amazing thing was not that it continued to exist, but to continue being so relevant. Well, here is a story that perfectly summarizes what Gates and Allen began … and why they have money for punishment.

Digital eternity. The story was recovered this weekend The BBC. The British media told that, despite the unstoppable advance of technology, there is still a surprising portion of the modern planet that continues to work thanks to equipment that execute Microsoft operating systems launched decades ago. From elevators in New York hospitals that still use Windows XP to German trains that They require expert technicians In Windows 3.11 and MS-DOS, the Microsoft software legacy not only survives: it is deeply rooted in the critical infrastructures of the day to day.

In other words: although the company has turned its Investments in artificial intelligence Like your new future betthe present is full of echoes of its past, with machines that literally are still starting after 20 or 30 years. A phenomenon that reveals two things: the durability and stability of certain ancient systems … and the enormous cost and complexity of replacing them, especially in sectors where the functional prima on the modern.

The paradox of obsolete efficiency. But there is much more, of course. For ATMs, Industrial printersmetropolitan trains or hospital systems, changing operating system is not as simple as clicking “update.” It requires rewriting proprietary software, updating specialized hardware and complying with safety and compatibility regulations. The result is that many institutions continue to depend on officially abandoned technologieslike Windows NT or Windows 2000.

Even in government contexts, such as the Department of Venarians of the United States, medical records They are managed About a digital architecture that was born in 1985with textual interfaces that demand commands in capital letters and complete routes of files. This persistence not only reflects a form of institutional inertia, but also a business strategy. Microsoft (Gates and Allen) had a “visionary” thought from the point of view of business: allowing users to continue using existing hardware, but selling licenses Instead of imposing obsolescence, to Difference of, for example, Applewhich promoted total renewal.

The invisible trap. The human cost of maintaining these systems is also tangible. The BBC explained it With cases of professionals such as psychiatrist Eric Zabriskie, who recounts whole days conditioned by the start of machines that took 15 minutes to turn on, or artisans such as Scott Carlson, who depend on CNCS that only work with Windows XP (despite the frequent failures).

This situation generates a dependency class Sordaone in which systems are still alive not by nostalgia, but by necessity. For many, the most worrying is the structural fragility that implies: critical infrastructure depend on technologies for which they already There is no technical supportneither developers available, nor security patches against cyber threats. In other cases, as in the RSan Francisco Railway Edeach day continues to start inserting a floppy disk To load a two system.

Yes, the image is anachronistic, But real.

Archeology of the present. Of course, not everyone sees the situation with resignation. Some, such as the researcher Dene Grigar, have assumed the conservation of these systems as an art form and cultural archive. In his Electronic Literature Laboratory At Washington State University, it keeps operational 61 Ancient computersfrom the 70s to the early 2000s, to preserve pioneer digital works that depend on original hardware and software to be experienced as conceived.

In his opinion, modern emulators cannot capture the complete experience of interactive and participatory works that defined the beginnings of the digital narrative. Your collection includes From video games until Instagram zinesall kept carefully museum. The only thing missing, counts, is a machine capable of reading five -inch floppy disks.

Immortal empire. The summary is that the longevity of Windows systems is not accidental. In the background it is deeply linked to that commercial philosophy focused on customer flexibility: allow large and small organizations to continue using their old computers without forcing them to disruptive technological leaps. Thus, Windows has not only been a productivity tool, but has become a kind of Invisible layer of modern civilization.

A paradox too, since while Microsoft looks at the future with His commitment to AIa good part of the world still lives within the ecosystem that the company built decades ago. As summed up in the BBC Developer M. Scott Ford, “Microsoft is simply something you are trapped.”

The longevity of their past systems is testimony to their domain and business approach: allowing users to continue using old equipment while paying licenses, a strategy that, decades later, still maintains alive technological ghosts of the past. A kind of Ctrl+Alt+Supr Eternal That, like Lee Vensel saidProfessor of Virginia Tech, “makes Windows the final infrastructure, and that’s why Bill Gates is so rich.”

Image | Armartinell, Charis Tsevis

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