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May 27, 2016

Feds spending billions to run old computers

  • The Defense Department system to send and receive emergency messages to nuclear forces runs on a 1970s IBM computing platform, and uses floppy disks.
  • By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
    Associated Press

    WASHINGTON — The government is spending about three-fourths of its technology budget maintaining aging computer systems, including platforms more than 50 years old in vital areas from nuclear weapons to Social Security. One still uses floppy disks.

    In a report to be released Wednesday, nonpartisan congressional investigators say the increasing cost of maintaining museum-ready equipment devours money better spent on modernization.


     
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